UC-NRLF 


fl!2    Elb 


LIBRARY 

riNTVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


n 


'^ 

HISTORY 


OF    THE 


INTERNATIONAL 


Translated  from  the  French  of  EDMOND'VILLETARD,  Editor  of  the 
Journal  d:s  Dcbat 


SUSAN    M.   D  AY. 

With  an  Introduction  by  HF.NRY  N.  DAY,  Author  of  "Aesthetics,''  "  Logic, 
"  Rhetoric,''    etc. 


NEW    HAVEN,    CONN.  ; 

GEORGE    II.    RICHMOND    &    CO. 

1874- 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1874,  by 

GEORGE  II.  RICHMOND  &  Co., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


tVtw  Hwftt,  Conn.  I  The  College  Cjuranf  Press, 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  conflict  between  labor  and  capital  is,  per 
haps,  an  unavoidable  condition  of  the  advance  of 
civilization.  At  the  present  stage  of  its  progress 
from  a  state  of  barbarism,  in  which  property  and 
power  belong  to  the  few,  towards  a  state  of  equal 
ity,  liberty,  and  universal  brotherhood,  certainly 
this  conflict  shows  itself  as  an  invariable  attendant 
and  sign.  Only  under  the  reign  of  perfect  virtue 
and  good-will  can  the  elevation  of  a  part  fail  to 
provoke  the  envy,  the  distrust,  and  the  ill-will  of 
the  rest.  On  the  one  side  there  will  be  instances 
of  oppression  and  cruelty,  which  will  naturally 
provoke  resistance  and  revenge  and  lasting  hate  ; 
on  the  other  side,  there  will  be  instances  of  pecu 
lation  and  eye-service,  which  will  as  naturally 
provoke  increasing  rigor  and  harder  exaction,  and 
wrongs  from  individuals  will  be  resented  against 
the  class.  But  the  perfect  reign  of  virtue  and 
good-will  is  the  reign  of  peace  and  contentment ; 
only  where  the  former  is  established  can  the  latter 
be  realized.  Resistance  to  oppression  and  injus 
tice  is  itself  characterized  by  the  same  imperfection 


iv  Introduction, 

out  of  which  issues  the  wrong  it  would  correct  or 
remove.  The  inequalities  in  condition,  which  men 
naturally  and  rightly  desire  to  correct,  exist  side  by 
side  with  envy  and  hate,  which  will  inevitably 
enter  into  the  work  of  reform  and  improvement. 

It  is  a  most  worthy  ambition  on  the  ,part  of  the 
inferior  to  rise  to  the  condition  of  his  superior. 
The  advance  of  society  to  a  higher  and  better 
stage  of  civilization  is  impossible  where  this  ambi 
tion  does  not  exist ;  it  is  rapid  just  in  proportion 
as  this  principle  prevails  in  the  community.  The 
condition  of  the  workman  is  in  itself  inferior  to 
that  of  the  employer ;  labor  is  lower  than  capital. 
It  is  a  true  and  worthy  manhood  that  seeks  to  rise 
from  the  one  to  the  other.  The  conflict  of  labor 
and  capital  is  not  to  be  ended  by  suppressing  this 
noble  aspiration.  Unless  civilization  recedes,  the 
effort  to  rise  will  continue.  It  is ,  rationally  to  be 
expected,  also,  that,  by  reason  of  human  imperfec 
tion,  the  effort  will  be  characterized  by  mistake  and 
ill  feeling  ;  that  the  conflict  will  continue.  We 
assume,  therefore,  the  certainty  of  a  continuance 
of  the  conflict ;  and  the  duty  of  the  philanthropist 
is  simply  to  seek  to  prevent,  so  far  as  possible,  the 
recurrence  of  mistakes  and  the  outbreak  of  ill- 
will. 

No  one  can  doubt  that  the  interests  of  the  capi- 


Introduction.  v 

talist  and  the  laborer  are  one  ;  that  in  the  relation 
itself  there  is  no  ground  of  hostility,  but  only 
reason  for  reciprocal  good-will  /  and  harmonious 
cooperation.  Conflict  arises  only  from  ignorance, 
or  from  selfishness  and  malice.  The  two  leading 
duties  of  society  in  respect  to  the  prevention  or 
diminution  of  the  threatened  evils  from  this  con 
flict  are  obviously,  first,  general  enlightenment ; 
secondly,  protection  against  wrong,  and  positive 
repression  of  it,  so  far  as  specific  evils  exist  or 
threaten  to  manifest  themselves. 

Experience  is  man's  best  teacher.  The  "  His 
tory  of .  the  International"  is  a  most  instructive 
lesson  from  experience.  The  enlightenment  which 
we  in  this  country,  as  well  as  the  European  nations, 
need  as  to  the  true  relationship  of  labor  and  capi- 
ital,  and  the  best  means  of  correcting  and  prevent 
ing  the  evils  which  are  so  liable  to  spring  out  of  it 
among  imperfect  men,  is  in  a  rich  manner  given  us 
in  this  instructive  history.  It  is  brief;  it  is  lucid  ; 
it  is  carefully  prepared  ;  it  is  faithful  to  fact ;  it 
deals  with  the  most  stirring  scenes  and  incidents  ; 
it  traces  the  progress  from  its  origin  to  its  end  of 
an  organization  of  a  most  stupendous  character, 
whether  its  principles,  its  advocacy,  its  magnitude, 
or  its  proceedings  be  regarded  ;  it  sets  forth  the 
strength  and  weaknesses  of  this  great  organization, 


vi  Introduction. 

its  wisdom  and  its  mistakes,  its  successes  and  its 
failure,  in  circumstances  and  conditions,  too,  that 
give  it  a  peculiar  extrinsic  interest,  and  in  the 
clear  light  of  faithful  narrative, — a  most  wonderful 
revelation  of  the  workings  of  the  human  mind  in 
regard  to  the  most  agitating  social  problem  of 
modern  times.  It  offers  matter  for  study' to"  the 
historian,  the  philosopher,  the  philanthropist ;  it 
especially  brings  counsel  to  the  capitalist  and  the 
laborer  alike,  in  regard  to  their  duties  at  this  pres 
ent  time,  when  society  is  so  profoundly  agitated  by 
the  practical  questions  which  their  relations  involve. 
In  the  conviction  that  this  little  history  will  help 
to  solve  this  great  problem  of  the  age,  as  its  solu 
tion  is  demanded  for  our  own  country  at  the  present 
time,  the  translation  has  been  undertaken,  and  is 
now  commended  to  the  favor  of  the  public. 

HENRY  N.  DAY, 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I, I 

THE  REFORMERS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 
The  Theorists  :  Saint-Simon,  Fourier,  Cabet,  Louis  Blanc. 

CHAPTER  II,     -  10 

WORKINGMEN'S  ASSOCIATIONS. 
I.  Workingmen's  Associations  from  1830  to  1848. 
II.  Workingmen's  Associations  under  the  Second   Republic. 
III.  Workingmen's  Associations  under  the  Government  of  De 
cember. 

IV.  Coalitions. — Strikes. — Societies  of  Resistance. 

CHAPTER  III,  41 

TRADE-UNIONS. 

Practical  Socialism  in  England.— Crimes  of  Sheffield.— Trade- 
U,nions. 

CHAPTER  IV,     -  -  51 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 

I.  The  London  Exposition  of  1862.— The  fete  of  the  Inter  na 
tional  Fraternity  at  the  Tavern  of  the  Free-Masons. 

II.  The  Question  of  the  Workingmen's  Candidatures  in  Paris 
in  1864. — Law  concerning  Coalitions. — Meeting  at  Saint-Martin's 
Hall. — Project  of  Statutes  of  the  International. 

III.  History  of  the  International  Association  of  Workingmen 
between  the  Banquet  at  Saint-Martin's  Hall  (1862)  and  the  Con 
gress  of  Geneva  (1864). 

CHAPTER   V,    -  75 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 
I.  Theory  and  Practice. — Sections. — Federations. — Branches, 
II.  Local  Committees. — Federal  Councils, 
III.  General  Council.— Congress, 


viii  Table  of    Contents. 

IV.  Particular  Statutes  of  the  Federations. 
V.  Budget   of  the    International.  —  General    and    Particular 
Budgets.-*- Yearly  and  Monthly  Assessments.— La  caisse  du  sou. 

CHAPTER  VI,    -  -  102 

THE  CONGRESSES. 

I.  Dates  of  the  Congresses. — Names  of  the  Delegates  who 
took  Part  in  them. 

II.  Congress  of  Geneva  (1866)  and  of  Lausanne  (1867).— First 
Attacks  against  the  Principle  of  Property. 

III.  Congress  of  Brussels  (1868). — It  decides  the  Confiscation 
by  the  State  of  Mines,  Quarries,  Railroads,  Forests,  and  Arab'e 
Lands.— M.  Tolain. 

CHAPTER   VII,  126 

JOURNALS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 

Their  Number. — How  they  speak  of  the  Bourgeoisie,  the  Army, 
the  Magistracy,  and  the  Clergy. 

CHAPTER   VIII,  136 

THE  STRIKES. 

I.  Official  Doctrine  of  the  International  on  the  Subject  of 
Strikes. — Practice  Different  from  Theory. — The  Strike  a  Powerful 
Means  of  Propagandism. — How  the  International  recruited  Gen 
eral  Duval. 

II.  Strike  of  Roubaix  in  1867. — Manifesto  of  the  International 
and  the  Journal  dcs  Debats. 

III.  Strike  of  Seraing  in  1869. — Manifesto  of  the  General  Belgian 
Council. 

CHAPTER   IX,  -  170 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  EMPIRE. 
I.  Parties  in  1864. — The   Revolutionary  Party  :  the  Jacobins 
and  the   Socialists. — The    Founders  of   the   International   decide 
that  the  Association  shall  remain  a  stranger  to  Politics. 

II.  First  Relations  between  the  International  and  the  Imperial 
Government. — M.  Rouher  solicits  an  Interview. — He  asks  Compli 
ments  for  the  Emperor. — The  International  resembles  the  Jaco 
bins. — First  Hostilities. — Manifestation  of  the  Boulevard  Mont- 
mat  tre. — Rupture  with  the  Deputies  of  "the  Seine.— First  and 
Second  Trial  of  the  International. 


Table   of    Contents.  ix 

III.  The    French   Branch   disguises    itself    in   Federation    with 
Workingmen's  Societies. — Hatred  of  the  Leaders  of  the  Associa 
tion  against  the   Bourgeois   Republicans. — They  Abuse  and"  Use 
Them.— Hope  of  a  Speedy  Triumph. 

IV.  Last  Months  of  the  Empire. — Ministry  of  January  2nd.— 
Funeral  of  Victor  Noir.— M.  Rochefort.— History  of  La  Marseil 
laise..—  Strike  of   Creuzot.— Cluseret  announces  the  Intention  of 
Burning  Paris.  —  The   International  begins  to  fear  the  Orleanist 
Princes. 

V.  The  Plebiscite.— Affair  of  the  Bombs.— Third  Trial  of  the 
International. 

CHAPTER   X,     -  215 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  WAR. 

I.  The   International    condemns   National    Wars.  —  It    only 
admits  Social  Wars. 

II.  Protest  of  the  International  against  the  War  of  1870. 

CHAPTER   XI,  227 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  REVOLUTIONS. 
The  4th  of  September  in  Paris  and  the  Provinces.— The  Siege  of 
Paris. — The  Capitulation.— Disorganization  of  the  Battalions  de 
voted  to  the  Cause  of  Order.— Organization  of  the  Central  Com 
mittee.— The  1 8th  of  March. 

CHAPTER   XII,  -  236 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  SINCE  THE  FALL  OF  THE  COMMUNE. 
Adhesion  given  by  the  Meetings  and  the  Journals  of  the  Inter 
national  to  all  the  Acts  of  the  Commune,  including  Assassinations 
and  Conflagrations. — Manifesto  of  the  General  Council  of  London. 
— Protests  of  some  of  its  Leaders. 

CONCLUSION,  -  251 

Re»l  Power  of  the  International. — How  can  it  be  Resisted  ? — 
Laws  of  Compression  ;  They  will  do  more  Harm  than  Good.— 
Organization  of  an  International  Resistance  to  the  International 
Conspiracy  of  Demagogism* 


History  of  the  International. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     REFORMERS     OF    SOCIETY    IN    THE    NINE- 
TEENTH    CENTURY. 

THE    THEORISTS. SAINT-SIMON. FOURIER. CA- 

BET. — LOUIS    BLANC. 

When  a  man  falls  sick,  he  can  call  to  his  bed  of 
pain  either  a  quack,  who  will  boast  of  a  radical 
cure  in  a  few  minutes,  thanks  to  some  marvellous 
operation,  and  who  will  finish  either  by  doing 
nothing  or  by  killing  him  with  some  drug  pre 
scribed  out  of  place,  or  a  true  physician,  who, 
without  proclaiming  himself  to  be  an  infallible 
savior,  will  conscientiously  study  the  symptoms 
of  the  disease  and  fight  the  evil  step  by  step,  until 
health  is  completely  re-established.  Suffering  so 
ciety  has  also  its  quacks  and  its  physicians.  The 
physicians  of  the  social  body  are  the  wise  and  pru 
dent  politicians,  who  devote  themselves  to  calming 
passions,  to  subduing  storms,  to  preventing  crises, 
to  maintaining  or  re-establishing  peace,  to  bringing 
back  equilibrium  into  the  budget,  order  into  the 
finances,  liberty  into  the  laws,  in  order  that  the 
condition  of  the  whole  world  may  grow  better  and 


2  History  of  the  International, 

better,  that  of  each  individual  profiting  by  the  gen- 
eral  amelioration.  The  quacks  of  the  political 
order  are  the  reformers  of  great  pretensions,  who 
flatter  themselves  that  they  have  found  a  marvel 
lous  formula,  by  virtue  of  which  we  will  see  the  mis 
ery  of  the  world  vanish  away,  and  the  golden  age 
flourish  again  upon  the  earth. 

Man  has  suffered  in  all  times,  both  as  an  indi-, 
vidual  and  a  member  of  society ;  he  has  very, 
naturally  sought,  at  all  times,  a  remedy  for  his 
misfortunes.  Unfortunately,  he  has  been  much 
inclined,  in  all  ages,  to  lend  a  favorable  ear  to  those 
classes  who,  instead  of  simply  engaging  to  alleviate 
his  sufferings  little  by  little,  promise  with  confi 
dence  to  free  him  from  them  all  by  a  turn  of  the 
hand.  Thus,  charlatans,  quacks,  and  formers  of 
plans  for  social  renovation,  have  never  lacked 
clients  and  disciples. 

We  will  not  stop  to  recall  here  all  the  projects  of 
radical  reforms  of  society,  which  have  been  carried 
forward  by  dreamers  in  so  many  centuries,  some  of 
whom  were  men  of  genius.  Neither  will  we 
enumerate  the  different  practical  attempts  which 
have  been  made  to  renovate  the  face  of  the  world 
in  a  single  day.  We  will  say  nothing  of  Plato 
and  his  Republic,  nor  of  Thomas  More  and  his 
Isle  of  Utopia,  nor  of  Campanella  and  his  City  of 
the  Sun,  nor  of  Fenelon  and  of  the  Republic  of 
Salente,  nor  of  Morelly  and  Le  Code  de  la  Nature. 
We  will  not  speak  of  the  Communist  movement  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  of  that  anabaptist  king 
dom  of  Munster,  whose  short  history  offers  strange 


History  of  the  International.  3 

resemblances  to  that  of  the  Commune  de  Paris ; 
we  will  not  even  say  a  word  of  Babeuf  and  his 
conspiracy,  although  there  may  be  some  likeness 
of  descent  almost  direct  between  the  Conjuration 
des  Egaux  and  the  demagogues  who  filled  Paris 
with  blood  and  flames  under  the  third  republic.  But 
it  is  necessary  to  relate,  at  least  in  few  words,  the 
theoretical  and  practical  history  of  socialism  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  contury. 

The  systems  of  Saint-Simon  and  Fourier  were 
conceived  by  their  authors  and  published  before 
1830*.  But  it  was  by  means  of  the  movement 
given  to  minds  by  the  revolution  of  July,  that  they 
came  out  of  the  narrow  circle  of  those  first  initi 
ated,  so  as  to  reach  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
public.  What  was  their  fate  is  well  known.  Saint- 
Simonism,  embraced  with  ardor  by  a  party  of  the 
aristocracy  of  the  youth  of  1830,  seemed  for  an 
instant  capable  of  converting  the  world  ;  but  after 
a  period  of  brilliant  life,  it  disappeared.  Almost 
all  the  apostles  of  Menilmontant,  it  is  true,  after 
twenty  years  of  obscure  efforts,  reached  the  first 
ranks  of  industrial  and  financial  society  of  the  sec 
ond  empire,  but,  nevertheless,  without  making  the 
ideas  of  their  masters  triumph  ;  the  dazzling  for 
tune  of  the  Saint-Simonians  was  by  no  means  a 
victory  for  Saint-Simonism,  long  since  dead.  Fou- 
rierism,  which  seemed  to  have  less  chance  of  suc- 


*  Saint-Simon  died  at  Paris  in  1825,  in  the  arms  of  his  first  disci 
ples,  Auguste  Comte,  Olinde  Rodrigue,  Bazar,  Enfartin,  etc.;  Fou 
rier  lived  until  1837,  but  his  most  important  works  were  anterior  to 
the  revolution  of  July. 


4  History  of  the  International. 

cess,  and  which  never  had  as  large  a  number  of 
adepts  eminent  for  their  science  and  intelligence, 
had  at  least  a  much  longer  life.  Retaken,  resumed, 
and  rejuvenated  by  Victor  Considerant,  as  the 
system  of  Saint-Simon  had  been  by  the  pleiad  of 
his  first  disciples,  it  struggled  without  much  glory 
until  1848,  and  seemed  for  a  moment,  after  the  new 
crisis,  as  if  it  must  play,  under  the  second  repub 
lic,  the  role  which  its  rival  doctrine  had  filled  in 
the  early  years  of  the  monarchy  of  July  ;  but  it 
was  in  its  turn  extinguished  little  by  little,  without 
leaving  in  the  world  a  very  brilliant  mark. 

The  first  of  these  two  doctrines  completely  ab 
sorbed  the  individual  in  the  state,  who,  under 
pretence  of  directing  and  protecting  us,  became 
the  most  insupportable  of  tyrants.  The  second 
broke  down,  in  a  manner  yet  more  irremediable, 
all  personality,  by  suppressing  not  only  the  prop 
erty,  but  even  the  life  of  the  individual  who  became 
a  simple  element  of  a  -phalanx,  without  will,  with 
out  initiative,  without  special  rights. 

These  two  systems  at  least  had  a  singular 
attraction  for  dreamers,  due  to  the  force  of  the 
imagination  of  their  authors,  who  had  built  the 
edifice  of  their  ideal-  society  upon  a  plan  new  and 
grand. 

The  reformers  who  succeeded  them  knew  not 
how,  any  more  than  they,  to  approach  the  real  and 
the  possible  ;  but  far  from  making,  like  them,  an 
appeal  to  the  generous  sentiments  of  human  na 
ture,  they  only  addressed  themselves  to  its  most 
vulgar  desires  and  basest  passions  ;  also,  instead  of 


History  of   the  International.  5 

attracting  to  them,  as  Fourier  and  especially  Saint- 
Simon,  a  small  number -of  noble  minds,  they  en 
snared  merely  an  ignorant  mob.  The  most  cele 
brated  of  these  reformers  are  Cabet,  author  of 
"  Voyage  en  Icarie"  and  M.  Louis  Blanc,  the  too 
famous  inventor  of  "  L*  Organization  du  travail" 
Both  of  these  found  numerous  partisans,  who  have 
published  the  writings  which  we  have  just  men 
tioned.  "  We  must,"  says  M.  Corbon,  in  a  book 
which  deserves  to  be  much  read  and  quoted,*  "  we 
must  distinguish  the  Communists  determined,  and 
consistent,  from  the  Communists  without  knowing 
it  and  without  intending  it.  These  are,  I  am 
aware,  numerous  enough.  In  studying  the  spirit 
of  the  working  class  of  Paris,  we  shall  see  cer 
tainly  a  communist  tendency,  manifesting  itself  by 
a  marked  progression  towards  lightening  consider 
ably  individual  foresight  and  responsibility,  by 
burdening  just  as  much  social  responsibility.  Sup 
posing  that  no  resistance  could  be  made  to  the 
propensity,  it  is  very  evident  that  one  after  another 
would  arrive  at  the  fusion  of  all  private  interests 
in  the  supreme  social  interest ;  we  would  have  a 
complete  community. 

"  But  one  must  be  very  ignorant  of  the  general 
dispositions  of  society,  and  even  of  the  force  of 
things,  in  order  to  believe  that  these  popular  ten 
dencies  can  go  to  the  final  consequence. 

"  The  decided  partisans  of  the  system  were  di 
vided  into  two  classes  ;  the  one  comprised  the 
immediate  communists— that  is  to  say,  those  who 

*  Le  Secret  du  peupk  de  Paris,  i  vol.,  8vo.     1863  i  Paris. 


6  History  of   the  International. 

believed  in  the  possibility  of  a  speedy  realization 
all  at  once ;  the  other,  those  who,  not  having  this 
belief,  wished  to  proceed  by  means  of  transition. 

"  The  immediate  Communists  were  divided  into 
two  branches  :  the  one  comprising  those  who  de 
sired  to  apply  the  system  revolutionarily  to  French 
society,  the  other  those  who  pretended  only  to 
realize  it  among  themselves,  and  outside  of  any 
constraint  upon  society.  These  last  were  ranged, 
for  the  most  part,  around  Cabet.  It  was,  more 
over,  not  the  Parisian  center  which  furnished  to 
this  socialist  leader  the  majority  of  his  adherents  ; 
the  Icariens  were  recruited  from  all  the  cities  of 
France.  The  most  determined  went  to  establish  a 
community  in  the  southern  part  of  the  United 
States,  at  Nauvoo,  a  place  previously  occupied  by 
the  Mormons.  , 

"  The  Communists  of  transition  clung  to  two 
measures :  the  one  of  economic  order,  the  other  of 
political  order. 

"  The  economic  measure  consisted  in  creating 
social  workshops  under  the  direction  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  state,  to  commence  by  constituting 
it  supreme  director  of  the  production  and  equal 
distributor  of  the  products. 

"  The  political  measure  consisted  in  advanc 
ing  progressively  the  right  of  the  state  over  private 
property." 

M.  Corbon  is  convinced  that  these  deplorable 
tendencies  were  not  "  the  fruit  of  the  popular 
spirit,"  and  that  there  must  have  been  some  stirring 
from  without  in  order  to  develop  them.  "  I  have 


History   of   the  International.  7 

known  very  well,"  says  he,  "  the  Communist  world  ; 
I  have  been  able  to  follow  the  development  of  the 
idea ;  I  have  observed  closely  the  work  of  initiation 
and  propagation  ;  and  I  shall  be  believed  when  I 
say  that  neither  the  initiators  nor  the  most  daring 
of  the  propagators  were  of  the  working  class." 

We  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  truth  of  this 
last  assertion,  but  the  pages  we  have  just  quoted 
have  received  a  melancholy  interest  from  the  tragic 
events  of  that  year.  The  ideas  which  the  former 
member  of  the  provisional  government  of  1848 
believed  positively  judged,  condemned,  and  even 
forgotten  by  the  Parisian  people,  of  which  he 
boasts  that  he  has  shown  us  the  secret,  were  on  the 
contrary,  even  at  the  time  at  which  he  wrote  his 
book,  making  the  most  frightful  progress,  precisely 
because  at  that  time  the  propagators  were  all  of 
the  working  class. 

The  systems  of  the  immediate  Communists  of 
1 840  are  almost  absolutely  known ;  we  will  study 
more  slowly  those  which  for  three  years  have  found 
their  advocates  in  the  speakers  of  the  congress  of 
the  International,  and  their  armed  defenders  in  the 
generals  and  the  soldiers  of  the  Commune. 

M.  Corbon  reminds  us  constantly  that  the  lea- 
riens,  not  rinding  the  old  world  worthy  for  the  suc 
cess  of  their  equal  republic,  transported  themselves 
to  America,  where  they  hoped  "  to  maintain  them 
selves  far  from  the  impure  breath  of  the  old  indi 
vidualistic  society."  It  is  well  known  that  alter 
a  short  time  the  success  of  the  experiment  was 
such  that  the  experimenters  were  obliged  to 
settle  their  association  by  means  of  fire  arms. 


History   of  the  International. 

The  system  of  M.  Louis  Blanc  was  never  tried 
by  such  direct  means  as  that  of  M.  Cabet ;  but  the 
principles  on  which  it  was  formed,  have  been 
proved  often  enough  to  enable  one  to  say  that  facts 
have,  many  times,  confirmed  the  coademnation 
which  science  justly  bore  against  them  before  any 
practical  experiment. 

Every  one  knows  that  the  passions  which  in 
spired  that  detestable  and  fatal  pamphlet,  "  L  Or 
ganization  du  travail"  were  hatred  of  competition 
and  love  of  absolute  equality.     Competition,  in  the 
eyes  of  M.  Louis  Blanc,  is  the  cause  of  all  evils, 
the  source  of  all  vices ;  one  must  hasten  to  stop  it 
everywhere.      More  competition  among  r»anufac- 
turers  or  merchants  excites  each  to  produce  or  to 
sell  at  a  better  bargain  than  his  neighbors  ;  more 
competition  among  workmen,  each  endeavoring  to 
supplant  the  other  in  the  same  workshop,  reduces 
by  degrees  the  price  of  their  labor.     Room  for  the 
social  workshop,  where  all  humanity  produces  for 
all   humanity    without    rivalry,  without  jealousy ; 
where  all  the    workers,   whatever   may   be    their 
business  or  their  function,  receive  the   same  sal 
ary  ;     where    the    man   of    talent    is    the    equal 
of  the  incapable  ;   where  the  man  of  genius  and 
the  idiot  are  a  pair ;  where  soldiers  and  judges, 
looked   upon   at   present  as   necessary   in  all   so 
ciety   to  prevent  or   punish   wrongs   and   crimes, 
are   replaced   by  a   bill   bearing  this  inscription : 
"  The  idle  man  is  a  robber."     It  is  a  complete,  per 
fect,  admirable   system.     It  is  only  necessary  to 
take  care,  in  order  to  render  the  application  possi- 


History  of  the  International.  9 

ble,  to  commence  by  renovating  the  moral  nature 
of  man  more  profoundly  than  Fourier,  in  his  dreams 
of  the  future,  changed  our  bodies,  those  of  animals, 
and  even  the  constitution  of  the  elements. 

It  must  be  confessed,  besides,  that  M.  Louis 
Blanc  did  not  invent  all  these  beautiful  things. 
The  ideas  which  he  condensed  in  1840,  in  his 
"  Organization  du  travail"  had  been  in  process  of 
formation  for  at  least  ten  years,  and  became  more 
popular  day  by  day  among  the  workingmen,  as  M. 
Corbon  proves.  A  certain  number  of  them  found 
a  convinced  advocate,  M.  Buchez,  who  made  for 
them  too  large  a  part  in  the  workingmen's  associa 
tion,  preached  in  1831  and  1832  by  its  journal, 
" L'Europfau"  They  even  submitted  to  a  begin 
ning  of  trial,  which  was  not  favorable  to  them,  as 
we  shall  see. 


•    CHAPTER    II. 

PRACTICAL    ATTEMPTS     AT     SOCIAL     REFORM.— 
WORKWOMEN'S    ASSOCIATIONS. 

I.    WORKINGMEN'S    ASSOCIATIONS    FROM    1830-48. 

If  the  workingmen's  association,  such  as  we 
have  seen  organized  at  three  different  times  during 
forty  years,  is  an  enterprise  sufficiently  new,  yet 
more  in  the  end  which  it  proposed  than  in  the  mere 
practical  results  which  it  was  able  to  attain,  it  must 
not  be  imagined  that  the  workingmen  had  waited 
until  the  24th  of  February,  1848,  or  even  until  the 
29th  of  July,  1830,  to  consider  that  it  would  be 
advantageous  for  them  to  unite  their  efforts,  in 
order  to  reap  greater  profits  from  their  labor,  and 
to  lend  in  all  circumstances  a  mutual  aid,  A  wise 
and  intelligent  historian  of  workingmen's  associa 
tions,  M.  Eugene  Veron,  relates  that  Rome  had 
formerly  its  collegia  opificum,  just  as  Germany  aud 
ancient  France  had  later  their  guilds.  M.  Corbon 
teaches  us,  on  his  side,  that  the  remembrance  of 
the  corporations  destroyed  by  the  French  Revolu 
tion,  is  dear  to  the  working  classes  who  still  regret 
them. 

"Since  1791,"  he  says,  "this  regret  has  been 
expressed  in  the  form  of  a  general  coalition  of  all 
bodies  of  trade.  The  laboring  masses  saw  already 
the  inconveniences  of  being  -  abandoned,  whilst 
the  class  of  contractors  reaped  the  benefits  of  the 


History  of  the  International.  n 

new  system.     Time  has  not  sensibly  changed  the 
opinions  of  the  two  classes. 

"  As  it  regards  the  laboring  masses,  the  regret  of 
an  institution  which  had  in  their  view  the  character 
of  a  protector,  does  not  always  mean  that  the  cor 
poration  dreamed  of  by  them  would  be  in  all 
points  organized  as  was  the  ancient  one. 

"  However  it  may  be,  of  all  the  systems  tend 
ing  to  the  organization  of  labor,  that  which  would 
give  a  legal  existence  to  the  corporation  would  be 
the  one  that  would  best  respond  to  the  feeling  of 
the  workingmen  ;  and  I  add,  that  wherever  that 
institution  is  most  vehemently  desired,  most  pe 
remptorily  demanded,  are  found  the  workingmen 
in  whom  intelligence  is  most  active,  and  who 
are  the  most  ardent  partisans  of  democratic  pro 
gress/' 

.If  the  corporations  no  longer  exist,  another 
more  mysterious  form  of  association,  which  was 
probably  anterior  to  them,  has  survived  them  ;  we 
allude  to  compagnonnage.  Without  enlarging  upon 
the  fabulous  origin  assigned  to  these  societies, 
which  have  had  at  least  several  centuries  of  exist 
ence  ;  without  giving  here  the  history  of  the 
Enfauts  de  Maitre  Jacques,  nor  that  of  the  Enfants 
de  Salomon  and  of  the  various  Devoirs ;  without 
entering  into  the  details  of  the  rivalries  and  hatreds 
which  have  divided  them,  we  will  limit  ourselves 
to  saying  that  we  would  strangely  mistake  the  im 
portance  of  these  venerable  ruins  of  a  past  time,  if 
we  saw  in  them  only  simple  societies  for  mutual 
assistance. 


12  History  of   the  International. 

\ 

The  one  thought,  "that  they  are  not  isolated, 
gives  to  the  compagnons  a  force  which  is  wanting 
to  the  workingmen  who  do  not  consider  themselves 
united  together  by  a  single  tie ;  the  editors  of 
IJ  Atelier,  good  judges  in  such  matters,  tell  us 
expressly  : 

"  There  is  among  all  the"  workingmen  who  pos 
sess  an  organization,  however  imperfect  it  may  be,  a 
sentiment  of  conviction  of  their  moral  superiority 
over  their  brothers  divided  by  egoism,  separated  by 
mistaken  interests."* 

M.  Corbon,  on  his  part,  remarks  also  that  where- 
ever  the  compagnonnage  exists,  the  workman  is 
skilful,  even  if  he  is  not  a  compagnon  ;  the  work  is 
relatively  well  done,  and  "  the  salary  is  greater 
than  elsewhere,"  without  adding  that  the  workman 
is  generally  sound  in  body  and  mind.  On  the 
contrary,  wherever  the  compagnonnage  does  not 
penetrate,  the  author  of  the  Secret  du  peuple 
affirms  that  the  work  is  poorer,  and  the  laborer  re 
mains  on  a  level  lower  than  "where  the  esprit  du 
corps  has  preserved  its  ancient  form. 

We  see  that  the  workingmen  have  not  waited 
for  the  creation  of  society's  "de  resistance,  in  order  to 
attempt,  by  means  of  a  common,  understanding, 
the  defense  of  their  interests. 

While  corporations  and  the  compagnonnage  ren 
dered  formerly  some  services  to  the  working 
classes,  they  must  have  seemed  very  insignificant 
to  the  ardent  spirits  who  aspired,  in  the  following 

*  L:  Atelier.    Dec.,  1843.     Page  43. 


History  of   the  International.  13 

days  of  1830,  to  renovate  the  face  of  the  earth  by 
the  triumph  of  the  most  absolute  democracy. 

There  was  no  attempt  to  protect  simply  the 
rights  of  the  laborer  against  the  excessive  force  of 
capital ;  it  was  necessary  to  reform  society  from 
top  to  bottom,  beginning  by  giving  it  new  founda 
tions,  built  upon  a  plan  heretofore  unknown. 

The  first  architect  who  presented  himself  was  a 
dissenting  disciple  of  Saint-Simon,  a  good  man,  as 
innocent  as  honest,  a  zealous  Catholic,  very  enthu 
siastic,  and  very  ignorant  of  the  tendencies  of 
human  nature.  M.  Buchez,  whom  we  were  to  see, 
eighteen  years  later,  president  of  the  constituent 
Assembly,  on  the  fatal  May  I5th,  being  inspired, 
the  day  "following  the  revolution  of  July,  with  the 
thought  of  the  school  with  which  he  had  broken, 
started  a  monthly  review,  LEuropeen>  expressly  to 
expose  the  miracles  wich  the  association  was  to 
realize.  His  success  was  very  great  among  the 
elite  of  the  working  class,  although  but  very  little 
noticed  at  that  time  by  the  bourgeoisie.  If  M.  Bu 
chez  had  contented  himself  with  engaging  the 
most  intelligent  and  most  industrious  workingmen 
to  unite  in  groups,  in  order  to  acquire  little  by 
little,  by  mingling  their  efforts  and  the  fruits  of  their 
work,  a  capital  which  would  make  them  dependent 
only  upon  themselves,  to  become  patrons  in  their 
turn,  he  would  have  given  excellent  counsel;  but 
he  would  not  have  needed  to  be  grand  master  of 
social  ~ sciences  and  disciple  of  Saint-Simon,  the 
prophet,  in  order  to  discover  so  commonplace  a 
remedy. 


14  History  of  tJie  International. 

Moreover,  there  is  little  tendency  in  the  French 
mind  to  content  itself  with  truths  so  humble,  and 
to  trouble  itself  to  give  advice  purely  individual. 
We  can  only  comprehend,  in  the  matter  of  reforms, 
those  who  embrace  humanity  all  together,  and  full 
of  scorn  of  ameliorations  in  detail,  we  only  deign 
to  occupy  ourselves  with  innovations  on  condition 
of  revolutionizing  all  the  world.  M.  Buchez  was  a 
true  Frenchman ;  the  readers  of  L Europfen  were 
yet  more  French  than  he.  They  hastened  then  to 
conceive  the  first  association  which  aspired  to  form 
the  nucleus  of  the  universal  .association.  "  It 
ought,''  says  M.  Corbon,  who  shared  at  first  these 
brilliant  illusions,  "  to  be  absorbing,  unique,  as 
much  as  possible  devoted  to  one  profession  ;  and 
all,  converging  to  the  same  end,  should  hold  them 
selves  closely  bound  together.  In  a  word,  we 
wish  to  constitute  the  community  from  the  instru 
ment  of  labor  ;  and  as  the  instrument  of  labor,  in 
the  economic  language,  includes  machines,  tools, 
capital  moveable  or  immoveable,  we  tend  then 
positively  towards  the  general  community  of  prop^ 
erty.  Our  theory,  at  first,  did  not  differ  from  that 
of  the  pure  Communists,  with  this  exception,  that 
outside  of  the  workshop,  each  disposed  of  his 
property  at  will" 

They  continued  to  give  to  associations  a  grand 
faculty  of  absorption  ;  they  declared  then,  contrary 
to  the  civil  law,  that  they  would  be  perpetual,  and 
that  a  part  of  the  social  capital  would  be  imper 
sonal  and  inalienable.  Every  associate  was  bound 
to  set  aside  a  portion  of  his  profits  to  increase  in- 


History  of   the  International.  15 

definitely  the  impersonal  social  capital,  and  to 
permit  the  society  to  receive  new  members  as  fast 
as  it  increased.  It  should  be,  as  it  were,  a  lifting 
pump  put  in  play,  without  cessation,  by  the  devotion 
of  the  associate  workingmen,  and  ending  by  draw 
ing  all  the  capital  into  the  hands  of  the  laborer ; 
they  already  foresaw  the  day  when  no  one  could 
help  working  in  order  to  live. 

It  is  useless  to  add  that  labor  by  the  job  was 
proscribed,  which  took  away  from  the  activity  of 
the  laborer  his  most  powerful  stimulant,  since  he 
ceased  to  have  in  view  a  salary  proportionate  to  his 
efforts  and  his  skill.  In  like  manner,  also,  the  part 
of  the  profits  which  was  not  applied  to  the  com 
munity,  was  divided  among  the  associates  accord* 
ing  to  the  number  of  their  days  of  work,  without 
making  any  allowance  for  the  actual  quantity  of 
work  furnished  by  each  one.  Of  what  use  is  it  to 
fatigue  one's-self  and  make  efforts  by  which  one  does 
not  profit  ?  M.  Corbon  says  with  exceeding  reason 
that  they  had  calculated  without  consulting  human 
nature,  which  does  not  lend  itself  to  such  expert 
ments.  "  The  group  of  workingmen  who  had  bor^ 
rowed  this  plan  of  organization  of  labor,  and  who  had 
propagated  it  as  well  as  they  could,  seemed  to  have 
consciousness  of  the  impossibility  of  realizing  a 
system  which  demanded  so  much  abnegation  and 
such  sustained  efforts.  The  proof  of  this  is  that 
they  did  not  make  great  efforts  to  preach  by  exam 
ple.  I  know  something  of  this.  I  remember  per 
fectly  that  I  felt  and  said  aloud,  more  than  once/ 
that  I  should  have  great  trouble  in  applying  myself 


1 6  History  of  the  International. 

to  such  an  order  of  things.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
we  are  always  disposed  to  demand  that  others 
should  do  what  we  omit  doing  ourselves.  We 
thought  then  that  we  had  accomplished  our  task  by 
propagating  the  ideas.  If  we  had  seriously  put  it 
in  practice,  the  impossibilities  would  have  struck 
us  much  sooner.* 

The  first  association,  that  of  the  joiner  working- 
men,  endeavored  to  establish  itself  on  .these  bases. 
It  was  founded  the  loth  of  September,  1831,  and 
its  statutes  were  compiled  by  M.  Buchez.  But  in 
spite  of  all  the  endeavors  of  this  celebrated  man, 
in1  spite  of  the  good  will  of  the  workingmen  them 
selves,  the  society  could  never  be  established  in  a 
serious  manner,  and  it  never  was  really  organized. 
Various  other  associations,  which  tried  to  found 
themselves  on  the  same  principles,  had  no  better 
fortune.  "  One  only  has  survived,"  says  M.  Eugene 
Veron,  "  from  which  we  borrowed  a  great  number 
of  these  facts,  that  of  the  jewellers,  founded  in 
1834.  It  comprised  at  first  only  four  associates  ; 
this  number  was  increased  at  one  time  to  eighteen  ; 
but  in  1851  it  fell  to  twelve,  and  to-day  has  only 
eight"!  But  it  must  have  remained  always  faith- 
ful  to  the  theory  which  it  adopted  at  its  birth. 
Thus  M.  Corbon  tells  us  that  the  impersonal  capi 
tal  which  it  promised  to  render  inalienable  as  far  as 
the  law  would  permit,  Was  divided  at  the  end  of 
ten  years.  On  the  other  hand,  the  rigorous  condi- 

*  Carbon,  Les  Merits  du  peuple  de  Paris.     2d  part,  chapter  II, 
t  M.  Veron'sbook  (Les  Associations  ouvrttrcs)  appeared  in  1865. 


History  of   the  International.  17 

tion  of  its  constitution  made  a  close  circle  for  it. 
Thus  this  association,  which  should  have  absorbed 
all  the  laborers  of  the  universe,  found  itself,  at  the 
end  of  thirty  years,  modestly  reduced  to  eight 
members.  Yet  M.  Veron  remarks  with  much  jus 
tice,  that  if  it  had  prospered  in  spite  of  the  errors 
of  its  statutes,  it  was  explained  by  the  character  of 
its  associates.  "  They  are,"  he  says,  "  men  pro 
foundly  religious,  who  find  in  the  exaltation  of 
their  belief  a  compensation  for  the  moral  stimulants 
which  they  have  thrown  away.  This  is  why  they 
are  resigned  to  remain  in  a  state  similar  to  torture, 
while  the  association  prospers  and  the  community 
is  enriched.  One  sees  very  well  that  this  cannot 
be  proposed  as  a  model  for  other  associations, 
which  cannot  be  entirely  composed  of  saints. 

IT.  WORKWOMEN'S  ASSOCIATIONS  UNDER  THE  SEC 
OND  REPUBLIC. 

We  have  seen  only  a  small  number  of  working- 
men's  societies  established  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  Phillippe,  but  the  theories  which  made  the 
association  the  remedy  of  all  the  evils  of  the  labor 
ing  classes,  and  the  force  destined  to  regenerate 
the  world,  were  never  so  much  in  favor  as  at  the 
time  when  the  Republic  triumphed  for  the  second 
time  in  France.  On  the  25th  of  February  the 
association  was  inscribed  in  a  decree  of  the  Hotel 
de  ville,  beside  the  guaranty  of  labor.  The  Con 
stituent  Assembly  did  not  leave  off  promising  the 
signature  of  the  provisional  government  on  this 


1 8  History  of   the  International. 

point,  and  July  25th,  1848,  upon  a  report  presented 
by  M.  Corbon,  the  assistant  editor  of  L  Atelier,  it 
voted  a  law  opening  a  credit  of  three  millions,  de 
signed  to  furnish  advances  to  the  workingmen  who 
wished  to  become  associated.  At  the  same  time, 
there  was  instituted  a  council  of  encouragement, 
to  examine  the  demands  and  regulate  the  condi 
tions  of  the  loan.  Ten  days  later  the  Assembly 
took  a  new  step  in  the  same  direction  ;  the  work 
ingmen  who  had  united  themselves  under  certain 
fixed  conditions,  were  admitted  to  the  adjudication 
or  even  to  the  direct  concession  of  public  labors  ; 
they  went  so  far  as  to  dispense  with  the  security 
required  of  those  who  undertook  the  trust. 
Among  the  associations  which  took  advantage  of  the 
privilege  of  this  second  law,  one  alone,  that  of  the 
pavers,  was  an  actual  success,  and  realized  great 
benefits  simply  by  procuring  an  administration  for 
the  city  of  Paris.* 

The  council  of  encouragement  instituted  by  the 
law  of  the  5th  of  July,  devoted  itself  to  the  work 
and  published  a  pamphlet,  where  was  found  yet 
more  of  the  ideas  of  the  editors  of  L  Atelier  than 
those  of  the  majority  of  the  Assembly,  for  it  spoke 
of  the  duty  imposed  upon  the  Assembly  "  of  assist 
ing,  by  the  means  of  which  it  could  make  use,  to 
remove  laborers  from  the  condition  of  receiving 
wages  to  that  of  voluntary  associates."  As  we 
can  readily  believe,  clients  were,  not  wanting. 
The  council  received  more  than  five  hundred  de- 

*  Levasseur,  Histoire  des  classes  ouvrttres  en  France^  depuis  1 798 
nos  jours,     Book  5,  chapter  IV. 


History   of   the  Inter  national*  19 

mands  in  1848,  and  more  than  a  hundred  in  1849  ; 
not  merely  three  millions  were  needed,  but  thirty 
and  more,  in  order  to  satisfy  all  those  who  pre 
sented  themselves.  "  The  chest  was  opened," 
says  M.  Levasseur  in  his  excellent  Histoire  des 
classes  ouvricres,  "  many  imagined  that  they  had 
only  to  draw  from  it.  Workingmen  became  asso 
ciated  without  any  determined  end  except  to 
receive  aid,  or  with  pretensions  that  could  not  be 
realized,  and  vague  aspirations.  Patrons  whose 
affairs  were  embarrassed,  associated  their  workmen 
in  order  to  have  a  right  to  the  loan  of  the  treasury." 
They  did  what  they  could  by  cutting  down  their 
parasites,  and  after  a  choice  difficult  enough  to 
make,  they  finished  by  admitting  thirty-two  associ 
ations  in  Paris  and  twenty-nine  in  the  departments, 
by  a  total  of  2,945,500  francs — that  is  to  say, 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  credit ;  some  resignations 
and  reductions  reduced  the  amount  actually  loaned 
to  2,590,500  francs,  divided  among  fifty-six  ssso- 
ciations. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1850,  L Atelier  appreci 
ated  the  spirit  which  inspired  these  societies,  in  an 
article  in  which  we  find  some  interesting  infor 
mation. 

At  the  time  when  the  revolution  of  February 
broke  out,  there  were,  according  to  this  journal,  in 
the  socialist  party,  four  very  distinct  groups.  That 
of  the  pure  Communists,  which  had  for  its  organs 
Le  Populaire  of  Cabet,  and  La  Fraternite  of  MM. 
Adam,  cambreur,  Mallarmet,  worker  in  bronze, 
Savary,  etc.,  condemned  formally  the  association ; 


2O  History  of  the  International. 

the  three  others,  on  the  contrary,  expected  to  see 
in  it  the  grand  instrument  of  social  regeneration  ; 
only  they  wished  to  organize,  the  one  according  to 
the  principles  of  the  phalansterian  school,  the 
other  according  to  those  of  M.  Louis  Blanc,  the 
third  according  to  the  conception  of  the  editors  of 
U Atelier. 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  article  which  we  are 
now  analysing,  the  greater  part  of  the  Communist 
workingmen  abjured,  after  February,  their  con 
tempt  of  the  association,  and  were  only  desirous 
of  changing  their  condition  of  receiving  salaries 
into  that  of  voluntary  associates. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  movement  impressed 
all  minds  by  the  revolution  which  was  just  accom 
plished,  one  association  alone  wished  to  regulate 
itself  upon  the  laws  of  the  Phalanstery.  Pro 
jected  in  1847,  it  endeavored  in  1848  to  establish 
itself  upon  a  domain  situated  some  leagues  from 
Paris,  and  it  was  disappointed.  "  The  socialism  of 
Fourier,"  says  the  editor  of  L  Atelier y  "  is  propa 
gated  but  little  except  among  young  scholars  ;  the 
popular  social  element  remains  almost  a  strangar 
to  this  doctrine.  So  that  of  the  three  constituent 
elements  of  the  phalanstery,  the  school  has  only 
found  one,  talent.  Capital  and  labor  have  been 
wanting  in  order  to  try  thoroughly  the  theory  of 
integral  association." 

The  system  of  M.  Louis  Blanc  was,  on  the  con 
trary,  very  popular  with  the  laboring  classes  ; 
most  of  the  associations  wished  to  conform  to  it ; 
many  even  imagined,  in  the  highest  faith  in  the 


History  of  the  International.  21 

world,  that  they  followed  religiously  its  laws  ;  but 
L!  Atelier  has  no  trouble  in  showing  that  they  only 
deceived  themselves  : 

"  M.  Louis  Blanc  only  conceived  of  the  associa 
tion  as  a  means  of  destroying  competition.  We 
have  seen  him  fight  with  all  his  energy  and 
with  all  his  eloquence  against  the  thought  of  dis 
tinct  associations,  divided  in  interests,  especially 
when  there  was  concerned  but  one  single  pro 
fession. 

"That  which  M.  Louis  Blanc  wished,  was  an 
association  unique  and  tending  to  become  universal. 
He  only  admitted  the  material  division  of  the  labor 
of  workshops  and  localities.  But  he  wished  that 
all  workers  should  sink  absolutely  their  particular 
interest  in  the  ccmmon  interest,  and  that  th-ey 
should  conform  to  the  law  of  most  complete  soli 
darity. 

"  According  to  the  doctrine  of  M.  Louis  Blanc, 
there  should  be,  wherever  there  was  need  of  them, 
social  workshops ;  here  of  joiners,  there  of  tailors 
or  of  masons  ;  in  fact,  there  would  only  be  one  and 
the  same  association  which  should  be  the  nucleus 
of  the  universal  association. 

"  As  for  the  principle  of  repartition,  it  should  be 
that  of  the  strictest  equality. 

"  This  destruction  of  competition  by  community 
of  interest  in  all  social  workshops,  and  equality  of 
salaries,  are  the  two  great  conditions  of  M.  Louis 
Blanc's  system.  Take  away  these  two  conditions, 
or  one  only,  and  the  whole  system  falls  to  the 
ground. 


22  History  of  the  International. 

"  Now  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  workingmen's 
societies  which  were  established  in  Paris,  under  the 
symbol  of  a  level,*  are  they  only  different  workshops 
of  one  and  the  same  association  ? 

"  No.  Except  three  or  four  associations  which 
have  one  or  two  dependencies,  or  three  at  most, 
each  associate  group  forms  a  group  perfectly  dis 
tinct  and  perfectly  separate  from  the  others. 

"  Some  efforts  were  made  and  renewed  for  the 
consolidation  of  workingmen's  associations  :  these 
efforts  failed.  The  establishments  which  had  the 
courage  and  perseverance  to  surmount  all  the  diffi 
culties  of  founding  do  not  seem  in  the  least  dis 
posed  to  make  common  their  cause  and  treasury 
with  other  establishments  more  or  less  well  organ 
ized. 

"  As  for  salary,  most  of  the  associations  in  their 
origin,  wished  it  to  be  equal,  conformably  to  the 
theory  of  M.  Louis  Blanc.  They  were  almost  all 
obliged  to  renounce  it. 

"  Thus  the  two  fundamental  conditions  of  M. 
Louis  Blanc,  those  which  alone  characterize  the 
system  which  he  himself  formed,  that  is,  unity  of 
interest  and  equality  of  salary,  have  failed  com 
pletely  in  practice. 

"  Competition,  for  which  M.  Louis  Blanc  had  a 
horror  which  all  his  adherents  shared,  is  made  use 
of  among  the  associations. 

*  The  number  of  180  societies  given  by  L' Atelier,  compared 
with  the  number  of  32  associations,  admitted  for  Paris,  to  take 
part  of  the  3  millions  voted  by  the  Assembly,  proves  that  the  num 
ber  of  societies  which  were  created  without  aid  of  the  Government 
was  infinitely  greater  than  is  generally  believed. 


History  of   the  International,  23 

•<  It  is  made  use  of  even  in  the  bosom  of  associ 
ation  ;  for  salary  proportionate  to  the  work,  as 
quantity  and  as  quality,  is 'still  competition. 

"  We  are  then  perfectly  justified  in  saying  that 
the  transformation  which  begins  to  operate  by 
means  of  the  association,  proceeds  no  more  from 
the  theory  of  M.  Louis  Blanc  than  from  that  of  the 
phalansteries." 

However,  the  co-workers  of  L  Atelier,  while 
demonstrating  that  victory  remained  to  their  own 
ideas,  recognized  in  the  author  of  L  Organization 
dn  travail  the  merit  of  having  energetically  pushed 
the  workingmen  into  the  path  of  association.  If 
his  personal  theories  failed,  it  is  because  the  force 
of  circumstances  and  human  nature  itself  con 
demned  them.  We  see  by  the  acknowledgments  of 
M.  Corbon,  in  Le  secret  dii  penple  de  Paris,  that  the 
editors  of  L Atelier  who  no  longer  shared  in  1848 
the  errors  of  M.  Louis  Blanc,  had  at  least  in 
former  times  paid  them  tribute ;  if  they  were  unde 
ceived  while  M.  Louis  Blanc  still  believed  them, 
it  was  because  they  were  thrust  into  practice,  while 
the  noted  publicist  always  remained  in  the  domain 
of  theories. 

Meanwhile  M.  Corbon  and  his  friends  were  them 
selves  amused  in  1850  by  many  illusions,  and  at 
the  moment  in  which  they  spoke  with  exultation  of 
the  transformation  which  had  begun  to  operate  by 
means  of  associations,  the  societies  upon  which 
they  grounded  so  much  hope  were  almost  all  on  the 
brink  of  destruction. 

Cruel   miscalculations   were   truly    not   slow   in 


24  History  of  the  International. 

chilling  the  beautiful  enthusiasm  of  the  earlier 
days.  Incompatibility  of  humor  among  the  asso 
ciates,  mobility  of  character,  want  of  skill,  absence 
of  a  voluntary  discipline  to  replace  the  enforced 
discipline  of  ordinary  workshops,  finally,  above  all, 
the  incapacity  of  most  -of  the  managers,  and  the 
dishonesty  of  some,  brought  into  the  societies 
which  were  just  established,  numerous  revolutions, 
and  caused  much  ruin.  In  1852,  among  the  fifty- 
^six  associations  created  by  means  of  the  funds 
voted  by  the  Assembly,  there  were  counted  thirty* 
which  had  foundered  swallowing  up  together  nearly 
one  million.  In  1858,  in  Paris  there  remained  only 
nine  of  the  thirty-two  of  the  associations  which  had 
profited  by  the  agreement  of  the  State,  and  of  these 
nine  societies  only  four  prospered.  Of  the  hundred 
and  eighty  associations  cited  with  pride  by  L  Atelier 
in  1850,  there  only  remained  ten  in  1867.  M.  Lev- 
asseur,  from  whom  we  have  borrowed  these  figures, 
adds : 

"  The  statistics  mention  less  than  fifteen  hun 
dred  workingmen,  who  attempted,  with  or  without 
the  public  assistance,  to  become  associated,  less 
than  three  hundred  who  with  difficulty  persisted 
until  1852,  and  this  indicates  that  the  capital  accu 
mulated  by  the  associations,  in  six  years,  remains 
still  inferior  to  the  supply  furnished  in  1 848  by  the 
State. 

"  It  is,  in  short,  a  small  result.  What  are  some 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  francs  earned  by'fifteen  or 

*  18  in  Paris  and  12  in  the  department.     They  had  received 
954,000  francs  in  loan. 


History  of  the  International.  25 

twenty  groups  of  ten  or  twenty  persons  by  the  side 
of  fortunes  realized,  in  the  same  lapse  of  time,  by 
old  workmen  becoming  manufacturers  or  con 
tractors  ?  If  it  were  possible  to  make  a  list  of 
salaries  in  1848,  which  in  a  period  of  ten  years 
have  changed  conditions,  and  to  place  in  comparison 
the  profits  amassed  by  those  under  the  regime  of 
individual  activity  and  under  the  regime  of  coop 
eration,  the  part  of  the  latter  would  assuredly 
appear  little  worthy  of  fixing  the  attention  of 
history. 

in.  WORKINGMEN'S  ASSOCIATIONS  UNDER  THE  GOV 
ERNMENT   OF  DECEMBER. 

The  imperial  government  showed  itself  in  its 
commencement  but  little  favorable  to  the  working- 
men's  societies  which  had  lived  until  the  2nd  of 
December.  Disposed  to  see  everywhere  elements 
of  conspiracy,  it  suppressed  most  of  those  which  had 
survived,  societies  of  production,  of  consummation, 
or  of  mutual  aid,  without  distinguishing  very 
much  the  object  which  they  had  proposed.  But, 
after  some  years,  the  notion  of  association,  which 
had  appeared  dead,  acquired  all  at  once  a  new 
force,  and  ended  by  being  as  favorably  received 
both  by*  the  bourgeoisie  and  the  government-itself 
as  the  laboring  classes. 

The  experience  of  1848  had  profited.  They  no 
longer  demanded  from  the  state  a  patronage  which 
had  come  to  be  regarded  as  more  hurtful  than 
useful.  There  was  little  or  no  question  of  equality 

2 


26  History  of  the  International. 

of  salaries  ;  the  workingmen — those,  at  least,  who 
were  in  the  associations, — comprehended  that  cap 
ital  is  an  indispensable  element  of  production,  and 
they  recognized  that  it  was  just,  when  necessary, 
to  give  it  its  part  of  the  fruits  of  a  labor  which 
could  not  have  been  accomplished  without  its  aid. 
Capital,  on  its  part,  no  longer  seemed  afraid  of 
associations.  In  1863,  M.  Beluze  founded  in 
Paris  the  Societz  du  Credit  au  travail,  which  had 
for  its  aim  "  the  crediting  of  associations  actually 
existing,  and  the  aiding  in  the  formation  of  new 
associations  of  production,  of  consummation,  and 
of  credit."  This  society,  which  ended  by  breaking 
down  in  later  years,  seemed  for  an  instant  called 
to  play  a  r61e  as  blessed  as  important.  Numerous 
societies  of  production  were  created  with  its  aid  and 
capital ;  it  received  funds,  to  a  great  extent,  of  mu 
tual  credit,  it  discounted  the  paper  of  a  great  num 
ber  of  cooperative  societies,  and  was  rapidly  aggran 
dized  itself,  for,  during  the  three  first  years  of  its 
short  existence,  the  number  of  its  associates  and  the 
amount  of  its  capital  had  increased  tenfold.  MM. 
Leon  Say  and  Walras  founded,  on  their  side,  the 
Caisse  d  'escompte  des  associations  populaires,  which 
prospered  rapidly,  and  the  emperor,  seeking  to 
favor  now  the  movement  which  his  government 
had  violently  combatted  in  1852,  gave  500,000  fr. 
to  constitute  a  Caisse  des  associations  cooperatives. 
In  the  departments,  five  or  six  treasuries  of  the 
same  nature  were  formed  between  1864  and  1867  ; 
M.  Levasseur  mentions  among  others  the  Societe 
lyonnaise  de  credit  ati  travail,  the  Banque  de  credit 


History  of  the  International  27 

au  ttavait  of  Lille,  and  the  Credit populaire  of  Col- 
mar.  In  the  last  half  of  the  year  1866,  there  were 
already  counted  in  Paris,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
credits  mutucls,  seven  societies  of  consummation, 
fifty-one  societies  of  production  ;  and  in  the  de 
partments,  one  hundred  societies  of  natures  differ 
ing  in  function  or  in  formation.* 

They  believed  for  a  moment  that  they  were 
assisting,  not,  indeed,  in  the  commencement  of 
the  universal  renovation  dreamed  of  by  the  social 
ists,  but  in  the  first  period  of  a  revolution,  peaceful 
and  deep,  which  would  effect,  little  by  little,  com 
merce  and  industry.  It  was  a  mistake.  The 
movement,  which  seemed  as  if  it  must  acquire 
new  strength  every  day,  soon  loitered,  and  without 
having  produced  either  a  commercial  or  political 
crisis,  most  of  the  societies,  which  had  seemed  just 
now  on  the  point  of  wholly  conquering,  disap 
peared,  one  by  one,  and  quietly  made  settlements 
more  or  less  disastrous.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  us  to  say  how  many  had  subsisted  till  the  last 
year  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  war,  but  we 
have  reason  for  believing  that  the  number  was  very 
much  reduced.f 


*  Levasseur,   Histoire  des  classes  ouvrieres.     Book  6,  chap.    VI. 

t  At  the  complementary  elections  of  July  2d  of  that  year,  those 
associations  which  still  existed,  published  a  very  moderate  mani- 
festoj  designed  to  oppose  abstention  ;  it  closed  thus  :  "  Whom 
shall  we  choose  ?  before  all,  the  men  of  rank  who  wish  to  maintain 
the  Republic.  What  have  we  to  gain  from  revolutions  ?  Nothing. 
What  have  we  to  gain  by  the  maintenance  of  order  and  of  the  Re 
public  ?  Everything.  Come  then  to  us  ;  observe  carefully  our 
candidates,  and  then:  To  the  ballot  !  It  is, the  only  weapon  of 
honest  citizens  and  laborers." 


28  History  of  the  International. 

Nearly  all  were  wrecked  upon  rocks  signaled  in 
advance  by  men  of  good  sense,  to  whose  wise 
counsels  and  sad  but  verified  predictions  they 
refused  to  listen. 

We  do  not  wish,  neither  are  we  able,  to  examine 
here,  one  by  one,  all  the  obstacles  which  rendered, 
truly  not  impossible,  but  very  difficult  the  success  of 
these  associations  ;  yet  there  is  one  main  thing 
which  we  think  useful  to  notice  in  this  preface  to 
the  history  of  the  International,  because  this 
obstacle  belongs  to  the  passions  which  have  most 


"  A  committee  of  initiative  of  the  workingmen's  associations." 
This  placard,  which  persuaded  the  electors  to  apply  "  to  one  of  the 
delegates,    10,  Rue   Mayran,"   was  printed  by  the  new  printing 
house  (a  workingmen's  association),  Rue  des  Jeuneurs,  14,  at  G. 
Masquin  and  Comp. 

Another  placard,  printed  by  L1  Association  generate  typographique, 
Riie  du  Faubourg,  Saint-Denis,  gave  a  "  list  of  the  Republican 
candidates  of  the  workingmen's  associations,  of  the  employes  of 
industry,  of  commerce,  and  of  administration."  This  list  con 
tained  only  five  names,  placed  in  the  following  order  : 

MM.  Cohadon,  founder  and  manager  of  the  cooperative  So 
ciety  of  Masons ;  Mamy  (Jules),  manufacturer ;  Mumeaux, 
founder  and  manager  of  the  cooperative  society  of  spectacle- 
makers  ;  Dreux,  founder  and  manager  of  the  cooperative  society 
of  locksmiths;  Pioche  (Joseph),  director  of  the  cooperative  -soci 
ety  for  the  consummation  of  the  union  of  agricultual  and  industrial 
factories ;  founder  and  president  of  the  council  of  inspection  of 
the  cooperative  society  for  the  production  of  cabinet  ware  and 
furniture. 

Below  these  names  were  two  lines  which  merit  notice  as  a  sign 
of  the  moderate  ideas  of  these  candidates  and  their  patrons.  "  To 
attain  this  end— just  cooperation  of  labor  and  capital."  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  just  how  many  votes  were  given  to  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  cooperative  associations  ;  but  the  journals  have 
not  told  us  this. 


History  of   the  International.  29 

powerfully  aided  in  the  formation,  in  the  develop 
ment  and  the  formidable  success  of  this  execrable 
society. 

When  an  association  is  established,  not  with  the 
purely  negative  aim,  to  propagate  hatred  and  war, 
but  with  a  positive  aim,  to  produce  and  sell  its  pro 
ducts,  it  is  not:  sufficient  to  have  working  arms,  it 
is  necessary  tnat  there  should  be  a  head  to  direct 
their  efforts  :  the  work  must  be  divided  among  the 
workers  ;  the  work,  when  finished,  must  be  ex 
amined  in  order  to  see  that  it  is  well  done  ;  tools 
must  be  bought,  and  materials,  without  any  mistake 
as  to  quality  or  price ;  it  is  necessary  to  employ 
those  who  will  make  products  of  a  nature  satis 
factory  to  the  consumers ;  as  soon  as  they  are 
fabricated,  markets  must  be  found  for  them ;  one 
must  know  how  to  sell  them  to  men  who  can  honor 
their  signature,  if  one  is  forced,  as  is  generally  the 
case,  to  accept  in  payment,  not  cash,  but  notes  to 
mature  in  longer  or  shorter  time.  It  is  necessary, 
then,  that  he  or  they  of  the  associates  who  are  to 
play  this  r61e  of  direction  and  control,  possess  a 
mass  of  information  perfectly  useless  to  those  who 
only  furnish  to  the  society  the  work  of  their  hands. 
These  directors,  or,  to  call  them  by  the  name  that 
the  notion  of  equality  and  some  little  jealousy 
among  the  associates  consented  to  give  them,  these 
managers  who  should  have  more  instruction,  more 
intelligence,  more  taste,  more  delicacy  of  mind, 
more  subtlety  of  character  than  their  comrades, 
under  penalty  of  misfortune  to  the  society  and  of 
ruin  to  each  of  the  associates,  shall  they  only  be, 


3O  History  of  the  International. 

as  regards  rights  of  all  kinds  and  daily  remunera 
tion  and  share  of  the  profits,  the  equals  of  those 
men  to  whom  they  should  be  superior  in  almost 
everything  ?  At  most  times  this  question  would 
have  been  resolutely  answered  in  the  affirmative  ; 
but  as  the  force  of  circumstances  is  superior  to  all 
the  decisions  of  a  society,  whatever  it  be,  the  asso 
ciations  have  found  it  almost  an  impossibility  to  find 
capable  managers  under  such  circumstances,  and 
when  it  has  not  been  internal  want  of  discipline 
which  has  killed  them,  they,  have  perished  by  being 
badly  directed  and  badly  administered.  When, 
on  the  contrary,  they  consented  to  give  to  the 
chiefs  they  had  elected  the  right  of  commanding 
and  of  directing  with  sufficient  liberty  ;  when,  at 
the  same  time,  they  have  accorded  to  them  pecuniary 
advantages  a  little  in  relation  to  the  degree  of  intel 
ligence  and  of  knowledge  of  all  kinds  which  they 
were  obliged  to  possess,  they  became  so  quickly 
the  object  of  such  lively  jealousy,  that  the  exercise 
of  their  functions  was  soon  rendered  impossible. 

The  force  of  circumstances  furnished  in  the 
presence  of  this  great  question  of  ruling,  three  or 
four  solutions,  almost  all  equally  disagreeable  to  the 
workingmen  who  were  united  in  the  hope  of  arriv 
ing  speedily  at  freedom  without  having  thenceforth 
any  superiors.  In  most  cases,  want  of  discipline 
among  the  associates  and  incapacity  of  the  man 
agers  brought  about,  more  or  less  rapidly,  ruin  ;  in 
other  cases,  a  small  number  of  associates  became 
able,  thanks  to  the  retiring  or  lassitude  of  the 
others,  to  transform  themselves  into  veritable 


History  of   the  International.  31 

patrons  and  conduct  more  or  less  ably  an  enter 
prise  upon  conditions  almost  resembling  those  of 
the  mills  founded  and  directed  by  the  bourgeoisie. 
Sometimes  a  manager,  at  the  same  time  incapable 
and  dishonest,  precipitated  the  final  crisis  by  disap 
pearing  some  fine  night  with  the  remains  of  the 
joint  capital.  Finally  we  even  see  some  of  these 
republics  transformed  absolutely  by  a  stroke  of 
authority  into  absolute  monarchies.  Thus  the 
association  cf  chair  makers,  founded  in  1848  with 
some  four  hundred  members,  and  reconstituted  in 
1849  after  numerous  internal  rendings,  with  only 
twenty  associates,  still  suffered  numerous  vicissi 
tudes  during  several  years.  At  last,  a  little  after 
the  2nd  of  December,  the  manager,  M.  Antoine, 
possessed  himself  of  absolute  authority  :  "  Well ! 
yes,"  said  he  to  a  German,  M.  Huber,  who  visited 
France  and  England  in  order  to -study  cooperation, 
"  yes  I  have  made  my  little  coup  d'etat  as  well  as 
another.  And  why  should  I  not  have  made  it, 
since  they  turn  out  so  well,  these  coups  detat  ? 
That  we  must  do  in  all  things,  as  other  Frenchmen 
do  to  us,  is  a  good  and  powerful  command."  Let  us 
add  that  a  long  time  before  the  hero  by  whom  he 
regulated  his  conduct  had  led  France-  as  far  as 
Reischoffen  and  Sedan,  the  dictator  of  the  chair* 
makers  was  compelled  to  disappear,  and  that  his 
disappearance  was  accompanied  by  circumstances 
little  edifying. 

In  a  country  much  less  favorable  to  coups  d'etat, 
in  England,  M.  Huber  found  also  some  managers 
who  had  known  how  to  impress  their  power  upon 


32  History  of  the  International. 

their  former  equals  :  the  history  of  one  of  them  is 
most  interesting,  and  we  shall  be  pardoned  if  we 
give  up  to  him  a  few  lines. 

There  were,  a  long  time  ago,  in  London  (this 
authentic  history  begins  like  a  fairy  tale),  seven 
brothers,  all  gigantic,  named  Musto,  who  ;were  all 
machinists.     The  eldest,  William,  a  good  speaker 
and  distinguished  agitator,  placed  himself  one  day 
at  the  head  of  a  strike,  into  which  he  very  natu 
rally  drew  his  six  brothers.     After  a  certain  time, 
one  of  them,  John,  seeing  all  the  family  resources 
wasted,  firmly  decided  not  to  re-demand  work  from 
his  "  patrons,"  but,  understanding   on   the   other 
side  the  absolute  necessity  of  returning  to  busi 
ness,  proposed  to  others  to  associate  themselves 
and  to  work  on  their  own  account.     He  had  read 
some  numbers  of  the  "  Christian  Socialist ;"   he 
had  been  taught  by  some  friends  already  embarked 
in  the  cooperative  movement,  and  some  philanthro 
pists  of  Lincoln's  Inn,   what  had   given  to  him, 
thanks  to  his  natural  penetration,  a  sufficient  idea 
of  the  aim  and  means  of  the  societies  then  new. 
With  his  brothers,  except  the  orator  William,  and 
two  or  three  of  their  companions,  by  realizing  their 
last  resources  and  contracting  a  little  loan,  they  col 
lected  a  hundred  pounds  sterling,   and  formed  a 
workshop.     But  the  affair  did  not  progress  ;  each 
one  wished  to  command,  and  no  one  was  willing 
to  obey  ;  customers  did  not  appear,  credit  vanished. 
Then     John    Musto    addressed     his     associates : 
"  How  can  you  expect,"  said  he  to  them,  "  that 
people  will  trade  with  you,  when'  they  do4not  know 


History  of  the  International.  33 

who  has  the  charge  of  affairs  ?  People,  you  know, 
have  to  do  business  with  some  one  person.  More 
over,  they  always  find  us  quarreling  and  arguing 
instead  of  working.  It  cannot  go  on  so,  and,  for 
my  part,  I  will  not  consent  to  it  any  longer. 
Do  you  wish  me  to  tell  you  what  is  the  matter  ? 
There  is  not  one  among  you  capable  of  directing 
affairs,  and  how  can  you  expect  to  do  it  all 
together  ?  Now  I  can  direct,  and  you  know  it 
very  well,  and  if  you  do  not  give  me  full  liberty, 
all  will  be  over  between  us.  /  will  make  my  way 
all  alone."  Thus  the  brave  John  Musto  made  his 
coup  d'ttat,  and  he  laughingly  told  M.  Huber  that, 
by  way  of  peroration  to  this  eloquent  speech,  he 
showed  a  pair  of  muscular  fists. 

Some  time  after,  the  cooperative  society  engaged 
the  associations^  protected  by  it,  to  respond  in 
writing  to  various  important  questions  submitted 
to  them.  It  asked  of  them,  among  other  things, 
to  what  cause  each  association  attributed  essen 
tially  its  success,  and  what  recommendation  their 
experience  would  consider  most  important  for 
future  associations,  The  associate  mechanics  of 
London  responded :  "  Place  the  control  in  the 
hands  of  a  small  number."  It  is  to  be  believed 
that  this  time  John  Musto  had  no  need,  in  deter 
mining  this  answer,  of  the  eloquence  of  his  famous 

fists, 

* 

Let  us  add  that  this  society,  established  in  1852, 
with  2,500  francs,  in  part  borrowed,  possessed,  in 
1854,  more  than  7o>ooo  francs.  It  is  true  that  it 
disappeared  in  1857  ;  but  it  succumbed  to  a  crisis 


34  History  of  the  International. 

which  carried  away,  at  the  same  time,  a  great  num 
ber  of  individual  enterprises,  and  its  fall  proves 
nothing  either  against  the  principle  of  association, 
or  against  the  necessity  of  intelligent  control  en 
trusted  to  one  man  or  a  very  small  number. 

John  Musto,  in  his  memorable  speech  to  his 
associates,  pronounced  a  profound  saying,  upon 
which  we  cannot  reflect  too  much,  because  it  suffi 
ciently  explains,  on  the  one  hand,  the  small  success 
of  most  all  the  associations  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
the  immense  number  of  adhesions  received  in  a 
few  years  by  the  International.  /  will  make  my 
way  all  alone.  This  is  precisely  what  constituted 
the  power  of  most  of  the  "manufactories,  mills, 
banking  and  commercial  houses  conducted  by  the 
bourgeoisie.  It  was  because  the  same  force  of 
circumstances  placed  at  their  head  only  those  men 
sufficiently  instructed  and  intelligent  to  make  their 
way  all  alone,  as  the  men  who  thought  themselves 
strong  enough  to  make  their  way  all  alone  did  not 
care  to  share  the  profits  to  which  they  had  the  right 
to  pretend  with  a  crowd  of  associates,  who  would 
aid  them,  it  is  true,  by  means  of  their  small  capi 
tal,  but  who,  by^  want  of  intelligence,  by  ignorance, 
or  even  by  most  fatal  jealousy,  would  fetter  all 
their  operations  and  constrain  all  their  movements, 
When  a  man  is  capable  of  becoming  the  real  and 
true  head  of  a  great  exploit,  which  he  can  direct  in 
all  freedom,  and  of  which  he  can  receive  the 
profits,  either  entirely,  or  at  least  in  a  very  large 
proportion,  can  he  be  contented  in  exercising  in  an 
association  a  power  uncertain,  precarious,  insuffi< 


History  of   the  International.  35 

cient,  and  without  being  recompensed  for  his 
trouble  except  by  receiving  a  part  of  the  profits 
scarcely  superior  to  that  of  the  least  of  the  associ 
ate  workingmen  ?  For  this,  one  must  be  a  hero,  a 
saint.  Now,  heroes  and  saints  are  rare  in  all 
times  and  in  all  countries. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  an  immense  multi 
tude  of  workers  who,  not  feeling  these  exceptional 
faculties,  know  in  the  depths  of  their  hearts  that 
they  are  wholly  incapable  of  making  their  ^vay  all 
alone,  and  who  have  seen  perish,  moreover,  one 
by  one,  most  of  the  associations  upon  which  they 
had  counted  for  the  realization  of  their  long  cher 
ished  hopes  ;  this  multitude,  we  can  believe,  were 
very  ready  to  rally  about  men  who  promised  to 
lead  .  them,  promptly,  by  ways  apparently  less 
arduous,  to  the  satisfaction  of  their  long  awakened 
desires,  their  eternally  unappeased  appetites. 

IV.     COALITIONS.— STRIKES.— SOCIETIES    OF   RESIST 
ANCE. 

Long  before  the  first  of  the  societies,  of  which 
we  have  just  related  the  history,  was  founded,  there 
were  created  associations  of  an  entirely  different 
character,  which  have  played  a  great  role  in  the 
economic  world.  We  speak  of  coalitions,  The 
cooperative  society  is  a  permanent  association 
which  has  for  its  aim,  production,  after  that,  the 
division  of  the  fruits  of  common  labor :  the  coali 
tion  is  an  association  generally  temporary,  formed 
in  view  of  war,  sometimes  offensive  sometimes  de- 


2,6  History  of   the  International. 

fensive,  between  labor  and  capital.  During  the 
early  days  of  our  great  revolution,  coalitions  were, 
in  Paris,  one  of  the  greatest  anxieties  of  government, 
and  the  constituent  Assembly  did  not  hesitate  to 
repulse  them  by  law,  for  it  feared  to  see  renewed, 
under  this  new  form,  the  corporations  it  had  just 
suppressed* 

The  penal  code  was  possessed  of  the  same  mind, 
and  forbade  the  coalition,  that  is  to  say  the  design 
however  pacific  it  might  have  been,  whether  of  the 
workmen  to  refuse  their  labor  on  the  conditions 
offered  by  the  employers,  or  of  the  employers  to  di 
minish  the  salaries  of  their  workmen.  But  this  law, 
seeming  to  take  equally  the  part  of  both  sides,  was 
very  easily  eluded  by  the  masters  who,  few  in  number, 
could  readily  write  and  have  an  understanding, 
while  the  workmen,  by  reason  of  their  large  num 
bers,  could  not  come  to  an  agreement  without 
noisy  and  tumultuous  reunions  which  themselves 
seemed  to  draw  down  the  intervention  of  justice. 

Few  years  passed  under  the  Restoration,  in 
which  the  tribunals  did  not  judge  one  or  more 
cases  of  coalition  :  the  number  of  affairs  of  this 
kind  increased  considerably  under  the  monarchy  of 
July,  not  that  the  laws  were  more  rigorous  for  the 
workmen  on  strikes,  but  because  the  elevation  of  the 
price  of  everything,  and  the  increase  of  public 
fortune,  rendered  more  necessary  than  under  the 
preceding  regime,  advancement  of  salaries,  to  which 
the  employers  cared  very  little  to  assent.  We  can 

*  The  history  of  these  coalitions  will  be  found  in  the  book 
already  quoted  of  M.  Levasseur,  Book  i,  Ch.  II. 


History  *f  the  International  37 

form  with  the  collection  of  U  Ateliers,  complete  list 
of  condemnations  to  which  this  kind  of  crime  has 
given  rise  since  1840.  The  number  is  frightful. 
These  processes,  to  be  regretted  from  a  natural 
point  of  view,  were  from  a  political  point  of  view 
inconvenient  in  the  first  degree.  Every  time  that 
an  affair  of  this  kind  made  a  little  noise,  the  gov 
ernment  press  raised  its  voice  against  the  working- 
men,  the  organs^  of  the  governmental  opposition 
maintained  generally  a  discreet  silence,  and  the 
cause  of  the  "  laborer  "  was  only  sustained  by  the 
radical  sheets  Le  National  and  La  Rtforme.  Then 
the  workingmen,  who  for  the  most  part  even  then 
held  themselves  aloof  from  any  political  tendency, 
passed  with  arms  and  baggage, — with  arms  espe 
cially, — into  the  ranks  of  the  revolutionary  party. 
Thus  the  government  made  many  enemies,  whom 
it  met  in  the  street,  gun  in  hand,  on  the  24th  of 
February. 

The  provisional  government  did  not  pass  a  law  for 
abolishing  the  articles  of  the  code  which  forbade 
coalitions :  it  contented  itself  with  not  applying  them, 
During  the  year  following,  we  see  that  they  had 
entirely  fallen  into  disuse, 

"Since  1849,"  savs  M.  Levasseur*  " coalitions 
have  been  numerous,  some  of  them  blustering. 
The  tribunals  prosecuted  each  year,  with  power, 
seventy-five  coalitions  of  workingmen,  eight  of 
employers,  and  pronounced  more  than  four  hundred 
condemnations.  There  were  often  found  in  these1 

*  Histoire  des  classes  oiwrtires*     Book  vi,  chap.  Ill, 


38  History  of  the  International. 

trials  the  same  scenes  of  violence  as  under  Louis 
Philippe."  However,  scarcely  were  these  condem 
nations  pronounced  by  the  tribunals,  than  the 
emperor  granted,  or  even  gave  without  being  asked, 
pardon  to  the  condemned.  It  had,  to  use  the  very 
just  expression  of  the  ministers  in  a  confidential 
report,  "  neither  the  advantages  of  a  penal  legis 
lation  enforced  with  rigor,  nor  the  honor  and  ad 
vantage  of  a  liberal  legislation."  It  was  therefore 
decided  to  amend  the  articles  414,  415,  416  of  the 
penal  code,  by  establishing  a  distinction  between 
simple  coalition,  which  was  permitted,  and  coalition 
accompanied  by  violence,  by  culpable  manoeuvres, 
by  blows  for  the  rights  and  liberty  of  employers  or  of 
workingmen,  which  was  punished  severely  enough. 
This  law,  which  was  prepared  by  M.  Emile  Ollivier, 
and  the  discussion  of  which  excited  a  lively  interest 
in  all  places,  was  voted  in  the  session  of  1864; 
the  same  rules  to-day  over  such  matters.  Every 
one  remembers  the  immense  strikes  which  were 
produced  almost  immediately,  and  the  violence, 
deeply  to  be  regretted,  to  which  many  of  them  gave 
rise.  Some  months  after  the  passing  of  the  law 
which  authorized  coalitions,  the  International  Asso 
ciation  of  Laborers  was  founded  in  London  ;  from 
that  moment  most  of  the  important  strikes  were 
either  prompted  or  at  least  aided  by  it.  But  before 
entering  into  the  very  heart  of  our  subject  by 
showing  the  International  at  work,  it  remains  for 
us  to  say  a  few  words  about  certain  societies  which 
were,  so  to  speak,  its  cradle, 

All  the  facts  which  we  have  here  related  are  es 
tablished  in  a  sure  manner  by  official  documents  ; 


History  of  the  International.  39 

the  history  of  the  associations  of  production  has 
already  been  given  ;  it  would  be  easy  to  continue 
it  by  taking  the  accounts  from  the  journals  and 
public  acts.  The  history  of  strikes  would  also  be 
very  easy  to  write,  since  each  of  the  incidents  of 
the  contest  between  capital  and  labor  has  left 
marked  traces,  which  can  be  found  in  the  publica 
tions  of  the  workingmen  and  of  the  employers,  in 
the  books  of  the  economists,  and  in  the  archives  of 
the  tribunals.  But  there  is  a  history  which  can 
only  be  made  with  great  difficulty  ;  it  is  that  of  the 
permanent  societids  organized  *by  workingmen, 
either  in  view  of  resisting  all  encroachments  of 
employers,  or  of  taking  the  offensive,  in  their  turn, 
and  obtaining  increase  of  salary  or  reductions  in 
the  time  of  labor.  We  know  that  in  France  no 
association  can  be  formed  without  the  authoriza* 
tion  of  the  government ;  now,  no  one  of  the  gov* 
ernments  which  have  succeeded  in  France  could 
authorise  the  formation  of  a  society  formed  to  or 
ganize  war  between  employers  and  workingmen, 
Societies  of  this  kind  have,  nevertheless,  existed 
for  many  years ;  but  they  have  managed  it,  either 
by  carefully  hiding  themselves  and  living  in  the 
condition  of  a  secret  society,  or  have  disguised 
their  true  end  by  designating  themselves  societies 
of  mutual  aid,  of  professional  instruction,  of  read 
ing,  etc,  But  the  administration  ignored,  or 
seemed  to  ignore,  these  clandestine  reunions.  No 
trial  has  revealed  the  existence  of  the  society, 
which  ended  either  by  dissolving  or  disappearing, 
or  in  being  merged  in  a  larger  society,  /without 
having  left  in  any  public  document  any  trace 


40  History  of  the  international. 

ever  of  its  existence.  Formerly,  a  political  trial  or 
a  case  of  coalition  permitted  one  to  guess,  even  to 
affirm,  the  existence  of  one  or  more  of  these 
offensive  or  defensive  leagues  ;  but  their  members 
denied  it  with  energy  before  the  tribunal,  and  the 
historian  may  fear,  that  to  his  affirmations  resting 
upon  an  attentive  study  of  the  facts,  there  will  be 
opposed  anew  these  official  denials  of  most  inter 
ested  witnesses.  We  can  only  indicate  here  the 
general  movement  of  the  associations.  The  prin 
ters  of  Paris  were,  we  believe,  the  first  who  were 
thus  united.  The  aim  of  their  union  was  primi- 
itively,  only  to  defend  themselves  against  all 
attempts  at  reduction  of  salaries.  It  is  useless  to 
add  that,  very  soon,  they  passed  from  the  defensive 
to  the  offensive.  Other  workingmen  of  the  same 
class  leagued  themselves  similarly,  not  only  in 
Paris,  but  even  throughout  France.  Afterwards 
these  societies,  at  first  isolated,  understood  the 
interest  which  they  had  in  uniting  in  a  mutual 
understanding  and  supporting  each  other.  In  this 
manner,  the  groups,  at  first  not  very  numerous, 
and  without  any  tie  between  them,  became  gradu 
ally  enormous  and  compact  masses,  whose  force 
seemed  at  certain  times  irresistible.  They  were 
extended  not  only  among  several  neighboring  pro 
fessions  in  the  same  city,  but  in  neighboring  cities, 
afterwards  with  analogous  groups  in  the  most  dis 
tant  provinces.  It  only  remained  to  establish  a 
connection  with  the  workingmen  situated  beyond 
the  frontiers  of  the  country.  We  will  proceed  to 
see  what  circumstances  led  the  French  associations 
to  pass  the  boundary* 


CHAPTER  III. 

TRADE    UNIONS. 

PRACTICAL     SOCIALISM    IN    ENGLAND. — CRIMES     OF 
SHEFFIELD.  — TRADE    UNIONS. 

The  general  conditions  of  existence  for  the  dif 
ferent  classes  of  society,  are,  in  this  century,  suffi 
ciently  similar  in  nearly  all  the  nations  of  Europe, 
to  make  us  certain  that  the  social  and  political  pas 
sions  which  we  find  in  any  one  of  them  will  be 
found  almost  identically  the  same  in  all  the  others. 
These  passions  may  express  themselves  by  phe 
nomena  a  little  different  in  appearance,  according 
to  the  special  temperament  of  the  people,  but  their 
general  character  is  everywhere  the  same,  at  bot 
tom  ;  before  all  study  of  facts,  then,  we  have  rea 
son  to  suppose  that  in  the  country  whose  economic 
conditions  approach  most  nearly  to  ours,  we  shall 
find  in  the  head  and  heart  of  the  laboring  classes 
almost  the  same  ideas,  prejudices,  desires,  and 
hatreds,  that  we  have  just  verified  among  the 
French  workingmen.  When  we  observe  what  is 
happening,  not  only  in  Belgium  and  Switzerland, 
but  also  in  England  and  Germany,  we  see  that  this 
conjecture  is  just,  and  that  the  same  causes  have 
produced  the  same  effects  north  of  the  British 
Channel  as  south,  upon  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine  as  well  as  upon  the  left  bank. 

Since  the  first  revolution,  a  certain  number  of  for- 


42  History  of  a  the  International. 

eigners  have  played  a  great  part  in  all  our  excesses, 
and,  without  official  commission,  have  represented 
their  countries  in  the  saturnalia  of  the  demagogues. 
We  will  only  mention  the  most  celebrated  of  these 
representatives  of  international  rashness,  the  Prus 
sian  Anacharsis  Clootz,  who  was  called  the  orator 
of  the  human  race,  and  who  had  the  honor  of 
leading  to  the  Champ-de-Mars,  at  the  fete  of  the 
Federation,  a  grotesque  assembly  of  the  scum  of 
all  nations,  intrusted  with  symbolizing  the  frater 
nity  of  the  people. 

We  called  to  mind,  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  the  coalitions  and  strikes  which  appeared  in 
France  at  the  beginning  of  the  Restoration,  that  is 
to  say,  as  soon  as  the  re-establishment  of  peace 
permitted  us  to  return  to  work.  Industrial  life  was 
not  suspended  in  England  by  the  contests  which 
imbrued  all  Europe  in  blood,  during  the  Revolution 
and  the  Empire,  far  from  it ;  also  the  activity  of  in 
dustry  had  there  developed  the  war  of  labor  and 
capital,  and  the  armies  of  workers  were  organized 
to  protect  it.  The  workingmen's  societies  destined 
either  to  resist  the  pretensions  of  the  employers,  or 
to  attack  them  by  dictating  laws  to  them,  were  already 
numerous  in  1824,  when  it  had  been  decided,  forty 
years  before  us,  no  longer  to  punish  coalition  as  a 
crime. 

M.  le  comte  de  Paris,  in  his  fine  work  on  the 
workingmen's  associations  in  England,  which  he 
published  in  Paris,  in  1869,  expresses  himself  thus  ; 
"  For  forty  years  the  English  workingman  has 
enjoyed  the  liberty  of  coalition,  of  disposing  of  his 


History  of  the  International.  43 

labor  as  of  his  merchandise,  as  the  producer  of  his 
products.  To-day  the  army  of  workingmen  en 
rolled  under  the  banners  of  the  Trade  Unions  can 
rival  that  of  the  larger  states  of  the  continent,  for 
it  is  composed  of  eight  hundred  thousand  volun 
teers.  Even  among  its  adversaries,  no  one  expects 
its  dissolution  ;  for  this,  it  would  be  necessary  to  go 
violently  backward,  even  to  the  laws  which  formed 
the  bondage  of  the  working  classes.  It  must  then 
reckon  upon  a  force  as  numerous  and  as  well  or 
ganized,  and  the  interest  of  all  classes  would  desire 
to  pursuade  it  to  lay  down  arms,  by  showing  that  it 
could  find  better  employment  for  its  power  thin  in 
the  barren  conflicts  in  which  it  has  been  engaged 
until  now." 

We  share,  unqualifiedly,  upon"  this  point,  the 
wisely  liberal  opinions  of  M.  le  comtede  Paris :  but  it 
must  be  added  that  the  conversion  which  he  is  so 
anxious  to  bring  about  is  not  the  most  easy.  To 
.what  a  degree  are  the  hearts  of  one  part  of  the 
soldiers  of  this  army  embittered,  what  stores  of 
hatred  can  they  treasure  up,  to  what  extremities 
can  these  men  little  educated  and  passionate  be 
driven,  it  is  this  that  the  English  forget  to-day  too 
easily,  though  a  famous  inquest  may  have  revealed 
it  to  the  world. 

There  is,  indeed,  no  one  who  has  not  been  shaken 
by  terror  upon  hearing  this  year  of  the  crimes  by 
which  the  Commune  has  signalized  its  agony.  But 
we  must  consider  that  the  wretched  people  who 
have  crowned  by  such  crimes  their  bloody  career, 
were  over  excited  for  two  months  and  a  half  by  a 


44  History  of  the  International* 

war  without  hope,  that  for  more  than  six  weeks  the 
incessant  noise  and  each  day  nearer  approach  of 
the  cannonade  must  have  driven  even  to  the  most 
furious  madness,  the  folly  which  led  them  into 
an  enterprise  as  extravagant,  as  criminal.  The 
English,  who  seemed  too  often  in  their  journals  to 
render  all  France  responsible  for  those  fires  and 
murders,  ought  to  remember  the  crimes  with  which 
certain  leaders  of  the  workingmen  of  Sheffield  were 
stained,  without  any  circumstances  which  could 
account  for  their  madness.  Since  they  forget  so 
quickly,  we  are  permitted  to  remind  them  of  them. 
There  existed  in  Sheffield,  as  in  all  other  indus 
trial  cities  of  England,  a  great  number  of  working- 
men's  associations,  whose  chief  aim  was  to  sustain 
strikes,  but  which,  at  Sheffield  as  elsewhere,  sought 
to  exercise,  at  the  same  time,  an  absolute  influence 
upon  their  industry,  to  impose  all  their  wishes  upon 
the  employers,  to  subject  all  the  workingmen  to  their 
slightest  caprices,  and  by  this  to  oblige  them  all, 
without  exception,  to  be  united  with  them.  Who 
ever  refused,  was  immediately  in  their  eyes  an 
enemy  against  whom  everything  was  permitted,  his 
resistance  must  be  broken  at  any  price.  In  order 
to  punish  and  intimidate  those  who  were  refrac 
tory,  their  tools  were  secretly  hidden,  and  they  were 
subjected  to  a  thousand  vexations  which  only 
ceased, -when,  tired  of  the  contest,  they  decided  to 
submit.  As  for  those  who  allowed  themselves  to 
retire  from  the  society,  no  punishment  was  too 
cruel  for  them.  During  the  space  of  fifteen  years, 
many  of  these  "  renegades,"  in  Sheffield,  were 


History  of  the  International,  45 

assassinated,  struck  by  a  mysterious  bullet  issuing 
without  noise  from  an  air-gun.  Others  had  their 
houses  destroyed  by  the  explosion  of  powder  boxes 
placed  in  the  cellar  with  lighted  matches  ;  their 
families  ran  the  risk  of  being  destroyed  by  them. 
During  nearly  fifteen  years,  these  grimes  were  fre 
quently  repeated,  and  fear  made  the  independent 
workingmen  understand  that  they  must  submit  to 
the  tyranny  of  the  societies  or  perish.  An  inquest, 
opened  by  a  commission  of  Parliament,  closed  by 
discovering  all  the  truth  concerning  these  crimes 
and  by  making  known,  in  all  the  details,  the  mourn 
ful  history.  We  knew  of  what  the  compatriots  of 
those  humane  and  pious  editors  'of  the  English 
journals  which  seem  to  attribute  to-day  to  the 
French  the  privilege  of  a  native  ferocity,  were 
capable,  in  perfect  peace,  and  without  the  excite 
ment  of  war. 

However,  we  must  not  fall  into  the  error  and 
injustice  which  we  condemn  in  others.  As  the 
immense  majority  of  Parisian  workingmen  are  inno 
cent  of  all  complicity  in  the  crimes  of  the  Commune 
of  Paris,  in  the  same  way  the  majority  of  the  trade 
unions  must  not  be  rendered  responsible  for  thq 
crimes  of  Sheffield,  and  we  must  examine  the  organ 
ization  of  these  societies  without  prejudices  against 
them. 

"  The  trade-union  is  preeminently,"  says  M.  le 
comte  de  Paris,  "  a  permanent  treasury  for  slack 
seasons.  After  having  generally  paid  an  admis 
sion  fee,  sometimes  pretty  large,  the  members  pay 
each  week  a  subscription  varying  from  one  penny 


46  History  of  the  International. 

to  one  shilling,  and  even  in  certain  cases,  two.  A 
reserve  fund  is  thus  formed,  which  grows  rapidly 
in  prosperous  years,  and  which  is  destined  to  sus 
tain  the  members  of  the  society  when  they  are  at 
at  a  stand  still,  either  from  lack  of  work,  or  in  time 
of  a  strike.  The  subscription  is  equal  for  every 
member,  and  this  equality  is  one  of  the  bases  of 
the  institution,  for  it  implies  an  equal  aid  in  case  of 
stoppage  of  work  ;  in  time  of  a  strike,  it  does  not 
matter  whether  a  workman  earns  much  or  little, 
the  union  must  keep  him  from  starving. 

The  society  is  ruled  by  a  council  of  inspection, 
an  executive  council,  elected  each  year  by  the 
secret  vote  of  all  the  members,  and  which  com 
prises  in  its  midst  a  president,  a  cashier,  and  a 
secretary.  The  government  of  the  society,  the 
relations  with  employers,  the  decisions  relative  to 
strikes,  the  distribution  of  indemnities,  finally,  the 
striking  out  and  admission  of  members,  belong  to 
this  council  exclusively.  To  the  general  assembly 
are  reserved  the  grand  financial  affairs,  such  as  the 
imposition  of  an  extraordinary  contribution  upon 
all  the  members,  if,  one  part  of  them  being  on 
strike,  the  normal  resources  of  the  society  do  not 
suffice  to  sustain  them. 

"  But  the  most  powerful  unions,  as  the  united 
mechanics,  the  unked  carpenters  and  joiners,  the 
masons  of  the  two  large  societies,  the  workers  in 
iron  of  Staffordshire  and  of  the  north  of  England, 
the  weavers  of  Lancashire,  the  national  association 
of  miners,  which  numbers  35,000  members,  and 
still  many  others,  have  a  more  complicated  organi- 


History  of  the  International,  47 

zation,  and  are  themselves  divided  into  a  great 
^number  of  branches.  Each  branch  or  lodge  is 
composed  of  workingmen  living  in  the  same  dis 
trict,  chooses  its  committee,  has  its  special  treas 
ury,  which  it  administers,  but  of  which  it  must 
give  an  annual  reckoning  to  the  central  council. 
This  is  formed  of  delegates  elected  for  six  months 
by  the  different  branches,  proportionally  to  the 
number  of  their  members,  and  of  two  employe's, 
the  secretary  and  the  treasurer,  named  directly  by 
the  suffrage  of  all  the  members. 

"  There  are  lodges  which  admit  into  the  union 
the  candidates  presented  by  two  members,  and 
which  decide  in  the  first  resort  concerning  exclu 
sions,  aid,  and  local  strikes.  But  one  can  always 
appeal  to  the  central  authority,  and  the  lodge 
which  makes  a  strike  without  having  obtained  the 
sanction  of  this  authority  will  not  be  sustained  by 
the  society.  Finally,  the  vote  of  taxes  and  the 
appeal  of  a  lodge  against  the  decision  of  the  coun 
cil,  belongs  to  the  general  assembly. 

"  Although  the  treasury  of  slack  seasons  always 
plays  the  principal,  role  in  the  administration  of  the 
unions,  a  small  number  only  among  them,  called 
by  way  of  distinction  trade-societies,  limit  the  use  of 
their  funds  exclusively  to  the  aid  of  strikes. 
These  societies  are  generally  of  little  importance. 
Others  offer  besides,  to  their  members,  certain  ad 
vantages  borrowed  from  societies  of  mutual  aid, 
such  as  a  weekly  indemnity  in  case  of  accident, 
and  almost  always  in  case  of  sickness,  the  expenses 
of  burial,  amounting  to  200  or  300  francs,  and 


48  History  of  the  International, 

often  half  of  this  sum  for  the  funerals  of  their 
wives.  Some  insure  them  against  the  loss  of  their 
tools,  and  there  are  three  which  guarantee  a  retreat 
for  the  old  and  infirm." 

We  have  endeavored  to  make  known,  practi 
cally,  the  organization  of  the  trade-unions,  because 
it  resembles,  in  many  points,  as  we  will  see  later, 
that  of  the  International.  For  the  same  reason  we 
have  dwelt  upon  the  coalitions  and  strikes  in  En 
gland,  because  it  was  in  England  that  this  society 
was  organized,  and  which  has  even  to-day  its  gene 
ral  council.  We  will  say  almost  nothing  of  Ger 
many,  because,  though  the  Germans  have  entered 
into  the  International,  they  have  contributed  much 
less. to  its  establishment  than  the  French  and  En 
glish  workingmen.  However,  it  will  suffice  to  re 
call  the  names  of  Jacobi  and  Lasalle,  to  prove  that 
socialism  has  had  its  teachers  as  well  in  Germany 
as  in  France.  Moreover,  everyone  knows  that  the 
socialist  press  is  larger  and  more  powerful  among 
our  enemies  than  ourselves  to-day.  As  for  those  of 
our  readers  who  desire  to  know  about  the  most  se 
rious  practical  attempt  at  social  amelioration  which 
has  been  made  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  we 
we  would  recommend  the  book  of  M.  Seinguerlet 
upon  the  Banks  of  the  people  of  Germany.  They 
will  find  there  an  instructive  and  complete  study 
of  these  institutions  of  popular  credit,  which  have 
made  famous  the  name  of  M.  Schultze  Delitzsch, 
their  founder. 

Until  these  later  years,  there  had  been  no  per 
sonal  relations  between  the  working  classes  of  the 


History  of  the  International.  49 

different  countries  of  Europe  ;  when  L!  Atelier, 
edited  by  the  workingmen  of  Paris,  wished  to  make 
known  to  its  readers  the  movements  of  coalitions 
and  strikes  in  England,  it  was  obliged  to  give  them 
analyses  of  the  articles  which  M.  Leon  Faucher 
had  just  published  on  the  subject  in  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes.  We  ought  to  notice,  it  is  true,  a 
strike  of  tailors  in  Paris,  wnich  was  sustained  for 
an  instant  by  money  sent  from  England.  It  was  in 
1840,  at  the  time  when  the  question  of  the  East 
menaced  France  with  a  war  against  all  Europe  com 
bined,  and  the  Parisian  strikers  were  spiritedly  re 
proached  for  having  sought  aid  from  the  enemies  of 
their  country.  L Atelier  responded  to  this  reproach. 
"  The  letters  of  advice  state  that  this  money  comes 
from  their  brothers  in  London  ;  it  is  honorably 
acquired  by  them  ;  it  is  the  offering  of  the  laborer 
to  the  laborer,  and  not  the  price  of  an  ignoble  sub 
sidy,  at  the  idea  of  which  we  all  revolt."*  We  have 
found  in  the  whole  collection  of  this  journal,  which 
we  know  appeared  until  1850,  no  other  traces  of 
facts  of  this  kind,  and  for  a  long  time  the  coalitions 
of  laborers  in  each  country  found  neither  aid  nor 
even  response  in  neighboring  countries. 

Two  sayings  paint  vividly  the  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  a  few  years,  in  this  respect,  in  the 
economic  relations  of  different  powers. 

L6on  Faucher  said,  in  1849,  that  England  could 
support  coalitions  because  it  had  commercial  liberty. 

In  the  book  published  twenty  years  later,  by  M.  le 

*  ist  number  of  UAtdier^  September,  1840,  page  4. 

3 


50  History  of  the  International. 

comte  de  Paris,  we  read  this  phrase  which  is  plainly 
the  counterpart  of  the  assertion  of  L6on  Faucher  : 
"  When  the  English  manufacturers  reproached 
their  workingmen  with  ruining  industry,  with  ruin 
ing  themselves  in  demanding  an  increase  of  salary 
which  favored  foreign  competition,  they  responded 
that  the  workingmen  of  the  Continent  would  soon 
obtain  in  their  turn  the  same  increase,  that  they 
would  aid  them,  if  it  was  necessary,  and  thus  the 
parts  would  be  again  equal." 

How  had  the  situation  changed  so  completely  in 
twenty  years  ?  How  had  that  which  was  very  true 
in  1849  become  absolutely  false  in  1869?  It  is 
because  personal  relations  were  established  between 
the  workingmen  of  different  countries  ;  it  is  because 
they  had  agreed  to  abolish  competition  between 
them,  and  to  declare,  on  the  contrary,  war  against 
their  employers.  It  is  because  the  International  was 
born. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 

A 

I.  THE  LONDON  EXPOSITION  OF  1 862. THE  FETE 

OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  FRATERNITY  AT  THE 
TAVERN  OF  THE  FREE-MASONS. 

The  first  idea  of  the  founding  of  the  Interna 
tional  Association  of  Workingmen  has  been  often 
attributed  to  Mazzini.  It  is  a  mistake  against 
which  the  members  of  that  society  have  vehemently 
protested  with  various  repetitions,  who,  notwith 
standing  their  love  for  overturning,  have  perhaps 
as  much  hate  for  the  revolutionary  bourgeoisie  to 
which  the  celebrated  Italian  agitator  belongs,  as  for 
the  conservative  bourgeoisie. 

We  have  seen  during  many  years,  that  working- 
men's  associations  more  and  more  vast  have  been 
established  in  broad  daylight  in  England,  where 
the  law  permitted  them  to  be  founded  and  to  live  ; 
in  secret  or  under  some  disguise,  in  France,  where 
the  associations  are  subject  to  the  regime  of  pre 
liminary  authority.  It  remained  only  for  these 
societies,  already  so  powerful  in  their  respective 
countries,  to  pass  over  the  straits  in  order  to  be 
associated  together. 

The  universal  Exposition  at  London,  in  1862, 
furnished  the  occasion  which  they  needed ;  every 
one,  on  that  side  of  the  channel,  assumed  the  most 
innocent  ardor  in  facilitating  the  journey  to  the 
French  societies. 


52  History  of  the  International. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1860,  the  Progrh  de 
Lyon,  advised  the  workingmen  to  tax  themselves, 
in  order  to  permit  their  delegates  to  go  and  admire 
the  marvels  of  the  great  industrial  congress  which 
was  being  prepared  in  London.  M.  Aries  Dufour 
found  the  idea  excellent,  and  made  haste  to  declare 
that  the  Imperial  Commission  "  would  neglect 
nothing  in  order  to  obtain  from  the  railroad  com 
panies  the  greatest  facilities  and  prices  exception 
ally  low,"  in  favor  of  these  interesting  travelers. 

L*  Opinion  nationals  very  much  hoped  that  the 
example  set  by  the  workingmen  of  Lyons  would 
influence  all  the  grand  industrial  and  manufacturing 
centers  of  France  :  "The  visit,"  said  this  journal, 
"  which  our  laborers  would  make  to  their  comrades 
in  England,  would  establish  among  them  relations 
profitable  to  all  in  all  respects  ;  at  the  same  time 
they  could  observe  for  themselves  the  great  artistic 
and  industrial  works  which  are  to  be  seen  in  Lon 
don,  they  would  be  better  sensible  of  the  solidarity 
which  binds  them,  the  old  leaven  of  international 
discord  would  be  quieted,  and  the  rival  jealousies 
would  make  way  for  the  salutary  efforts  of  a  fraternal 
emulation."  Consequently  L  Opinion  nationale 
rallied  with  all  its  heart  about  the  idea,  expressed 
by  Le  Temps,  of  opening  a  national  subscription, 
for  paying  for  the  delegates  of  the  great  manufact 
uring  centers  the  expenses  of  the  journey  already 
greatly  reduced  by  the  intelligent  assiduity  of  the 
imperial  government. 

On  every  side,  the  matter  was  made  so  attractive 
to  the  future  travelers,  that  a  Lyonese  laborer  did 


History  of  the  International  53 

not  delay  writing  to  the  Progrh  de  Lyon  that  he 
suspected  a  trap : 

"  When  the  initiative  comes  from  above,"  said 
this  doubter,  "  from  superior  authority  or  from  em 
ployers,  it  only  inspires  workingmen  with  moderate 
confidence.  They  think  or  believe  themselves  di 
rected,  conducted,  absorbed,  and  the  best  endeavors 
are  rarely  crowned  with  success." 

It  must,  nevertheless,  be  added  that,  in  this  case, 
"  success  "  has  answered  much  more  to  the  desires 
of  the  suspicious  correspondent  of  the  democratic 
sheet,  than  to  those  of  M.  Aries  Dufour,  of  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  III,  and  of  the  editors  of  Le 
Temps  and  U  Opinion  nationale. 

A  project  so  ardently  favored  by  every  one  at 
the  time,  could  not  fail  of  success,  and  the  dele 
gates,  almost  all  chosen  by  their  comrades,  as 
must  have  been  expected,  in  the  party  most  ad 
vanced  and  most  passionate  of  the  working  class, 
arrived  safely  at  London,  upon  a* pleasant  summer's 
day  in  1862. 

Thus  far  we  have  not  had  occasion  to  verify  up 
to  what  point  they  considered  well,  as  they  had 
been  expected  to  do,  "  the  great  artistic  and  indus 
trial  works  "  which  figured  in  the  galleries  of  the 
Exposition,  but  they  were  wonderfully  'sensible  of 
"  the  solidarity  which  binds  them,"  and  "  the  old 
leaven  of  international  discord,"  which  had  not 
been  for  a  long  time  very  dangerous,  was  very 
quickly  replaced  by  the  leaven,  entirely  new,  [of  so 
cial  discord,  whose  marvellous  energy  we  can  ad 
mire  at  this  moment  in  our  streets  in  ashes. 


54  History  of   the  International. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  delegates  departed  from  France  with  all  the 
savage  passions  which  the  society  that  they  were 
to  establish  nourishes  to-day.  It  would  be  an 
equal  mistake  to  suppose  that  they  found  in  En 
gland  these  passions,  pushed  to  the  degree  at 
which  we  see  them  now  ;  no,  the  careful  study  of 
all  the  documents  proves  a  fact,  moreover,  profitable 
in  itself ;  it  is,  that  in  the  International  as  in  other 
political  institutions,  and  even  in  certain  national 
assemblies — in  the  Long  Parliament,  for  example, 
or  in  the  Convention — individual  passions,  already 
violent,  became  more  bitter  and  more  terrible  by 
continuous  contact ;  that  men  the  most  intelligent 
and  the  least  carried  away  were  borne  down  by  the 
less  intelligent  and  more  violent,  who  found  them 
selves  immediately,  in  their  turn,  surpassed  by  a 
new  flood  of  madmen  for  whom  they  themselves 
were  too  calm  and  too  moderate.  Many  of  the 
first  French  founders  of  the  International  have  re 
fused  to  lend  themselves  to  the  excesses  of  their 
successors  ;  they  pass  to-day  in  their  eyes  for  rene 
gades,  and  if  they  have  not  been  treated  as  the 
Girondins  by  the  Montagnards,  it  is  because  the 
Commune  has  not  endured  long  enough,  and  has 
not  extended  its  power  far  enough  to  sacrifice  all 
the  objects  of  its  hatred. 

But  let  us  return  to  London  and  the  Exposition 
of  1862.  On  the  5th  of  August,  "  the  fete  of  the 
international  fraternization,"  all  the  delegates  were 
assembled  at  the  tavern  of  the  free-masons.  The 
English  workingmen  read  there  an  address  to  their 


History  of  the  International.  55 

brothers  in  France,  which  has  come  to  us  almost 
entire,  thanks  to  the  different  fragments  which  M. 
Murat  quoted  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Seine, 
during  the  suits  brought  against  the  International 
in  1868  and  1870. 

This  address  is  sufficiently  interesting  for  us  to 
reproduce  here  all  the  passages  these  two  speeches 
give  us : 

'•  We,  English  workingmen,  have  seized  with  joy 
the  occasion  of  your  presence  in  London,  to  ex 
tend  to  you  a  fraternal  hand,  and  we  say  to  you 
with  all  our  hearts  :  You  are  welcome. 

"  In  the  ages  of  ignorance  and  darkness,  we  have 
only  known  how  to  hate ;  then  was  the  reign  of 
brute  torce.  To-day,  under  the  shield  of  civilizing 
science,  we  meet  as  children  of  labor  ;  the  reign  of 
moral  force  has  come.  .  .  . 

"  Although  the  future  seems  to  promise  the  sat 
isfaction  of  our  rights  and  of  our  hopes,  we  ought 
not  to  disguise  that  we  will  not  arrive  there  with 
out  serious  contests  ;  egoism  renders  men  too  often 
blind  to  their  true  interests,  and  produces  hatred 
and  derision  where  there  should  be  only  love  and 
union. 

"  In  the  same  manner  that  our  national  dissen 
sions  have  been  ruinous  to  our  respective  countries , 
our  social  divisions  will  be  fatal  to  those  whom 
competition  influences  against  their  brothers. 

"  As  long  as  there  are  employers  and  laborers,  as 
there  is  competition  between  employers,  and  dis 
putes  concerning  salaries,  union  among  working- 
men  will  be  their  only  means  of  safety. 


5  6  History  of  the  International. 

"  Concord  between  us  and  our  employers  is  the 
sole  means  of  diminishing  the  difficulties  by  which 
we  are  surrounded. 

"  The  improvement  of  machines,  which  we  see 
increasing  on  all  sides,  and  the  gigantic  production 
which  is  the  result  of  the  application  of  steam  and 
electricity,  change  every  day  the  conditions  of  so 
ciety.  An  immense  problem  is  to  be  solved,  that 
of  the  remuneration  of  labor.  According  as  the 
power  of  machines  increases,  there  must  be  less 
need  of  human  labor.  What  will  be  done  with 
those  who  are  without  work  ?  ought  they  to  remain 
unproductive  and  as  elements  of  competition  ? 
Should  they  be  left  to  starve,  or  fed  at  the  expense 
of  those  who  work  ? 

"  We  do  not  pretend  to  solve  these  questions, 
but  we  say  that  they  must  be  solved,  and  that  for 
this  task  it  is  not  too  much  to  demand  the  con 
course  of  all :  of  philosophers,  of  statesmen,  of 
historians,  of  employers,  and  workingmen  from  all 
countries.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  take 
part  in  this  work. 

'•  Many  systems  have  been  proposed  for  the  so 
lution  of  this  problem  ;  most  of  them  have  been 
magnificent  dreams ;  but  the  proof  that  the 
truth  has  not  been  found,  is  that  we  are  still  seek 
ing  it. 

"  We  think  that  by  exchanging  our  thoughts  and 
our  observations  with  the  workingmen  of  different 
nationalities,  we  shall  discover  most  quickly  the 
economic  secrets  of  societies.  Let  us  hope  that 
now  as  we  have  clasped  hands,  as  we  see  that  as 


History  of  the  International.  $f 

men,  as  citizens  and  as  laborers,  we  have  the  same 
aspirations  and  the  same  interests,  we  shall  not 
permit  our  alliance  to  be  broken,  by  those  who 
believe  it  for  their  interest  to  disunite  us  ;  let  us 
hope  that  we  shall  find  some  international  means  of 
communication,  and  that  every  day  will  form  a  new 
link  in  the  chain  of  love  which  shall  unite  the 
laborers  of  every  country." 

In  this  address,  which  is,  so  to  speak,  the  instru 
ment  of  the  birth  of  the  International,  there  are 
found  without  doubt,  certain  errors,  certain  illusions  ; 
but  the  tone  of  it  is  suitable  and  moderate,  it  does 
not  appeal  openly  to  violence,  and  it  does  not  even 
seem  as  if  brute  force  was  the  power  upon  which 
the  compilers  of  this  address,  in  the  depths  of 
their  hearts,  placed  their  hopes.  But  there  is  one 
thing  worth  noticing,  (for  it  is  a  sign  of  the  course 
which  the  ideas  of  the  International  Association 
followed  fatally),  it  is  that  only  the  most  moderate 
passages  of  this  address  were  quoted  by  M. 
Murat  in  the  first  trial  ;  the  paragraph  relating  to 
the  utility  of  concord  between  the  employers  and 
workingmen,  and  that  in  which  appeal  is  made  for 
the  solution  of  certain  problems  to  the  concourse 
of  employers  and  workingmen  of  all  nations,  had 
been  read  before  the  tribunal  in  1868,  they  were 
struck  out  in  1870,  without  doubt  in  order  not  to 
lose  from  the  society  numerous  adepts  whom  these 
sage  ideas  would  have  revolted  ;  and  moreover,  M. 
Murat  is  in  the  International,  a  kind  of  Girondin, 
almost  a  renegade.  By  the  course  which  he  had 
gone  over  in  two  years,  judge  of  the  progress  which 
3* 


5 8  History  of  the  International.- 

the  anti-social  passions  had  been  able  to  make  in 
the  same  time  among  the  Montagnards  of  the  asso 
ciation  ! 

After  having  listened  to  this  discourse,  the 
French  delegates,  through  Mr.  Melville  Glover, 
their  interpreter,  expressed  their  desire  to  see  com 
mittees  of  workingmen  established,  "  for  the  ex 
change  of  correspondence  upon  the  questions  of 
international  industry."  This  proposition  was 
received  with  warm  applause.  Such  was,  according 
to  the  recital  made  by  M.  Murat  to  the  tribunal, 
the  origin  of  the  society  whose  history  we  are 
studying. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  actual 
truth  is  very  near  the  official  truth  ;  it  suffices  prob 
ably  to  replace  the  beautiful  scientific  terms  of 
questions  of  international  industry  by  the  more  prac 
tical  words  of  rates  of  salaries,  of  opportunity  for 
strikes  and  means  of  sustaining  them. 

To  speak  plainly,  the  workingmen  of  the  two 
countries  were  convened  to  establish  between  them 
a  permanent  understanding  upon  all  questions  of 
salaries  and  coalitions  :  there  remained  for  them  to 
find  practical  means  of  realizing  it,  a  durable  form 
must  be  given  it,  a  fixed  organization  to  the  asso 
ciation  whose  utility  they  had  just  recognized,  and 
its  principles  set  forth.  This  was  the  work  of  two 
years.  The  imperial  commission,  in  its  inexhaust 
ible  solicitude  for  the  workingmen  to  whom  At  had 
furnished  the  means  of  going  to  London*  to  ac- 

*  "  The  advanced  republican  party  wished  to  draw  us  ;  we  re 
sisted  it  like  the  rest,   and  then,  as  we  had  obtained  aid  for  the 


History  of  the  International.  $$ 

complish  this  brilliant  task,  had,  without  doubt, 
taken  the  precaution  to  furnish  each  of  its  proteges 
with  tickets  for  going  and  returning.  They  did 
not  all  have  to  use  their  return  tickets.  "  Many 
delegates,"  says  Murat,  "  found  themselves  advan 
tageously  situated  during  their  stay  in  London. 
There  ensued  an  exchange  of  letters,  which  in 
creased,  from  day  to  day,  the  need  of  constituting  a 
common  center  of  correspondence." 

We  have  the  right  to  intrepret  the  words  of  the 
accused,  reciting  to  a  tribunal  the  facts  of  an  affair 
in  which  he  was  implicated.  It  is,  then,  lawful  to 
suppose  that  the  advantageous  situations  found  by 
certain  delegates,  were  solely  or  principally,  the 
aid  which  their  brothers  and  friends  had  promised 
them,  in  order  that  they  might  remain  in  England, 
to  work  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  To  drop  a 
biblical  metaphor,  little  in  keeping  with  such  bad 
Christians,  it  was  to  be  their  especial  work,  (Murat 
acknowledges  it  almost  directly,)  to  collect  the 
necessary  information  in  order  to  see  in  which  of 
the  two  countries,  in  what  part  of  each  country, 
and  in  what  branch  of  industry,  there  would  be  the 
greatest  advantage  in  beginning  the  war,  in  organ 
izing  vast  strikes,  whose  success  would  be  assured 
by  the  moral  and  material  concourse  of  all  the  asso 
ciates.  Only,  the  more  the  delegates,  remaining  in 
London  in  their  advantageous  situations,  were  occu 
pied  with  the  question,  the  more  would  they  recog* 

journey  to  the  London  Exposition,  it  happened  that  we  were  called 
Bonapartist  agents."  (Defense  of  Murat,  third  trial  of  the  Inter 
national  Association  of  Workingmen)  published  in  Paris,  in  July, 
1870. 


60  History  of  the  International 

nize  the  necessity  of  an  organization,  vast,  solid  and 
permanent. 

The  following  year,  it  was  necessary  to  reunite  ; 
there  was  no  longer  need  of  the  universal  exposi 
tion  nor  the  eager  concourse  of  M.  Aries  Dufour 
and  the  aid  of  the  imperial  commission.  A  pretext 
was  found  in  a  manifestation  in  favor  of  Poland, 
which  was  organized  or  was  found  already  organ 
ized  by  unconscious  god-fathers.  It  was  necessary 
to  pay  for  somewhat  dearer  places  in  railways  and 
steamboats  and  to  pay  for  them  themselves ;  this  did 
not  prevent  six  new  Parisian  delegates  from  hasten 
ing  and  arranging  with  the  organizers.  There  is  every 
reason  for  believing  that,  in  this  reunion,  the  defi 
nite  principles  of  the  association  were  determined  : 
but  the  existence  of  the  society  projected,  and  es 
pecially  the  execution  of  the  projects  in  view  of 
which  it  was  organized,  were  yet  very  difficult  in 
France,  with  the  laws  which  existed  at  that  time. 
They  did  not  despair  of  modifying  this  inconvenient 
legislation,  and  the  facts  soon  proved  that  it  would 
have  been  wrong  to  despair. 

II.  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  WORKINGMEN's  CANDI 
DATURES  IN  PARIS  IN  1864. — LAW  CONCERNING 
COALITIONS. — MEETING  AT  SAINT-MARTIN'S  HALL. 
— PROJECT  OF  STATUTES  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 

Some  general  elections  had  taken  place  in 
France  in  the  spring  of  1863.  By  reason  of  the 
double  nominations  obtained  by  several  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  opposition,  there  was  occasion  to 


History  of  the  International.'  6f 

nominate  two  deputies  from  Paris  in  the  month  of 
March,  1864.  While  the  leaders  of  the  left  and 
the  extreme  left  disputed  about  the  choice  of  the 
candidates  whom  they  should  propose  to  the 
electors,  there  suddenly  appeared  a  manifesto 
signed  by  sixty  workingmen,  who  demanded  that 
one  of  the  vacant  seats  should  be  reserved  for  a 
"laborer."  The  sixty  signers,  among  whom  we 
notice,  with  other  leaders  of  the  International, 
MM.  Tolain  (graver),  Murat  (mechanician),  Limou 
sin  (lace  maker),  and  Camelinat  (worker  in  bronze), 
did  not  hesitate  to  perplex  politics  by  laying  down 
suddenly  the  social  question  : 

"  Universal  suffrage,"  they  said,  "  has  made  us 
great  politically,  but  it  remains  for  us  to  emanci 
pate  ourselves  socially." 

Then  followed  the  inevitable  tirade  against  the 
enemy,  towards  whom,  especially,  the  growing  soci 
ety  proposed  to  declare  war  : 

"  Those  who,  destitute  of  instruction  and  capital, 
cannot  resist  by  liberty  and  solidarity  the  egoistic 
and  oppressive  exigencies,  suffer  fatally  from  the 
domination  of  capital" 

In  consequence  they  demanded,  first  of  all,  the 
abolition  of  the  articles  of  the  code  which  forbade 
coalitions  ;  but  they  sought  to  reassure,  at  the  same 
time,  the  electors  and  deputies  as  to  the  conse 
quences  of  such  a  reform  : 

"  To  those  who  believe  that  they  will  see  resist 
ance  and  strikes  organized  as  soon  as  we  claim 
liberty,  we  would  say  :  You  do  not  know  the 
workingmen  ;  they  pursue  an  end  much  greater, 


^2  History  of  the  International. 

much  more  fruitful  than  that  of  wasting  their 
forces  in  daily  contests,  in  which  on  both  sides  the 
adversaries  will  find  nothing  definite  but  ruin  for 
the  one  and  misery  for  the  others.  The  third-es 
tate  said  :  What  is  the  third  estate  ?  Nothing  ! 
What  must  it  be  ?  Everything.  We  will  not  say  : 
What  is  the  workingman  ?  Nothing  !  What  must 
he  be?  Every  thing!  But  we  will  say:  The 
bourgeoisie,  our  elder  brother,  knew,  in  '89,  how  to 
absorb  the  nobility,  and  destroy  unjust  privileges. 
It  remains  for  us  not  to  destroy  the  rights  which 
the  middle  classes  justly  enjoy,  but  to  obtain  the 
same  liberty  of  action.  .  .  . 

"  Let  us  not  be  accused  of  dreaming  of  agrarian 
laws,-  chimerical  equality,  which  would  place  each 
one  on  the  Procrustean  bed,  distribution,  forced 
taxes,  etc.  No!  It  is  high  time  to  stop  these 
calumnies,  propagated  by  our  enemies  and  adopted 
by  the  ignorant.  Liberty  of  labor,  credit,  solidar 
ity, — that  is  our  dream.  In  the  day  on  which  it 
shall  be  realized,  for  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  a 
country  which  is  dear  to  us,  there  will  no  longer 
be  bourgeois,  nor  proletaries,  nor  employers,  nor 
workingmen.  All  citizens  will  be  equal  in  rights." 

They  made  haste  finally,  in  order  to  tranquilize 
the  republican  bourgeoisie,  to  declare  that  they 
wished,  as  it  did,  for  universal  suffrage  relieved 
from  all  fetters,  liberty  of  the  press,  liberty  of 
reunion,  complete  separation  of  church  and  state, 
equilibrium  of  the  budget,  municipal  franchise, 
"  What  do  we  desire  more  especially  than  they," 
they  added,  "  or,  at  least,  more  energetically,  be* 


History  of  the  International.  63 

cause  we  are  more  interested  ?  Primary  instruc 
tion,  gratuitous  and  obligatory,  and  liberty  of 
labor." 

Aside  from  the  railing  against  capital,  we  see 
that  the  wishes  of  these  signers  were  presented  in 
a  manner  the  most  modest,  we  were  going  to  say 
the  most  encouraging.  We  could  say  of  socialism 
as  did  Dorine  de  Tartufe  :  "Alas  !  how  sweet  it  is; 
it  is  all  sugar  and  honey" 

However,  the  bourgeoisie  would  not  be  seduced  ; 
immediately  another  manifesto,  also  signed  by  a 
certain  number  of  workingmen,  blamed  the  un 
timely  pretensions  of  M.  Murat  and  his  friends, 
declaring  that  it  was  no  time  for  submitting  work- 
ingmen's  candidatures,  and  that  it  was  not  neces 
sary  to  complicate  the  political  question  by  a  social 
one.  The  sixty,  nevertheless,  persisted  in  their 
opinion,  but  their  candidate,  M.  Tolain,  could  only 
get  in  the  fifth  district,  where  he  presented  himself, 
380  votes. 

This  check  seemed  destined  to  discourage  the 
party  which  had  dreamed  of  conquering  the  world 
by  means  of  the  society  in  prospect  of  formation  ; 
but,  if  some  discouragement  entered  at  that  time, 
which,  indeed,  is  not  certain,  into  the  soul  of  M. 
Tolain  and  his  friends,  it  must  soon  have  given 
place  to  lively  hope  when  the  discussion  of  the  law 
concerning  coalitions  came  before  the  Corps  legislatif. 

M.  Emile  Ollivier,  who  had  just  been  associated 
with  the  empire,  was  charged  with  the  defense,  in 
the  character  of  a  reporter,  which  brought  upon 
him,  very  naturally,  instead  of  the  thanks  of  the 


64  History  of  the  International. 

workingmen  whose  cause  he  pleaded,  the  most 
violent  attacks,  and  the  names  of  traitor  and  apos 
tate.  A  fraction  of  the  chamber,  which  had  espe 
cially  for  its  spokesmen  MM.  Seydoux  and  Kolb- 
Bernard,  opposed  the  project,  as  they  considered  it 
dangerous  for  society.  The  extreme  left,  on  the 
contrary,  combatted  it,  by  the  voices  of  MM.  Jules 
Simon  and  Jules  Favre,  as  incomplete  and  insuffi 
cient.  Echoing  the  sentiments  of  the  majority, 
M.  Buffet  saw  the  defects  of  this  law,  but  judged 
that  it  would  be  still  more  inconvenient  to  reject 
than  to  adopt  it.  "  By  rejecting  it,"  he  said,  "  we 
would  not  have  destroyed  the  evil  that  we  dread  ; 
we  would  only  have  driven  it  inwards  and  made  it 
more  dangerous.  Now,  in  this  situation,  I  consider 
it  a  duty,  notwithstanding  my  doubts,  notwith 
standing  the  anxieties  of  my  mind,  to  adopt  the 
entire  project." 

Thus,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  extreme 
right  and  the  extreme  left,  together  with  the  cold 
ness  of  the  centers,  the  law  was  adopted  by  222 
voices  against  36. 

Coalitions  were  from  that  time  authorized  in 
France.  The  vast  association  projected  within  two 
years  received  from  the  hands  of  power  and  of  the 
bourgeois  opposition,  aid  without  which  it  could 
have  done  nothing  in  France.  It  hastened  imme 
diately  to  be  definitely  constituted. 

On  the  28th  of  September,  1864,  the  "English 
workingmen  "  convoked  at  London,  in  Saint-Mar 
tin's  Hall,  a  grand  international  meeting  which  three 
French  workingmen  attended,  "delegates  from  a 


History  of  the  International  65 

little  group  to  which  some  of  us  belonged/'  says 
Murat  in  his  defense  before  the  imperial  court.* 
There,  were  arranged  the  provisional  regulations  of 
the  International  Association,  or  rather  there  were 
ratified  those  which  the  actual  leaders  had  brought 
prepared,  there,  was  named  the  committee,  or 
rather  the  powers  which  these  same  organizers  had 
taken  upon  themselves  were  validated,  finally  it  was 
there  that  the  correspondents  for  the  different  coun 
tries,  represented  in  the  meeting,  were  designated 
by  means  of  election. 

The  provisional  statutes  settled  by  this  meeting 
were  those  which,  two  years  later,  the  members  of 
the  first  universal  congress  of  the  International 
adopted,  exaggerating,  only,  by  some  additions,  the 
violence  of  the  ideas  ;  they  deserve  then  to  arrest 
us  a  moment. 

The  first  thing  which  these  compilers  of  the 
statutes  declared  in  their  considerations  was,  that 
"  the  emancipation  of  laborers  must  be  the  work  of 
the  laborers  themselves."  No  idea,  without  except 
ing  perhaps  their  hatred  of  capital,  entered  more 
passionately  into  their  heads  and  hearts.  Also,  in 
the  different  suits  which  were  brought  against  them 
later,  we  see  all  those  inculpated  have  declared  by 
turns,  that  a  very  great  wrong  and  almost  an  injury 
was  done  to  them  in  attributing  to  Mazzini  the  first 
idea  of  their  society  : 

"  And  to  say,"  cried  Chalain  in  the  third  trial, 
"  that, — we  know  not  with  what  intention, — you  make 

*  Audience  of  April  22nd,  1868. 


66  History  of  the  International. 

of  Mazzini  the  founder  of  the  International !  We 
have  proclaimed  sufficiently,  moreover,  that  we  no 
longer  wanted  deliverers,  that  we  no  longer  wished 
to  serve  as  instruments,  and  that*  we  had  the  pre 
tension  to  have  knowledge  of  the  situation,  to 
understand  our  interests  as  well  as  any  one." 
Truly,  nothing  is  more  praiseworthy  than  to  wish  to 
do  one's  own  business  one's  self,  and  to  reckon  upon 
work  and  not  upon  the  aid  of  others  in  order  to  free 
one's  self.  It  is  an  excellent  sentiment ;  we  do  not 
desire  that  the  workingmen  shall  renounce  it ;  we 
only  wish  that  they  might  come  to  have  a  clearer 
view  of  the  reality,  to  understand  that  they  can 
serve  as  instruments  quite  as  well  to  the  ambitious 
from  among  their  own  ranks  as  to  the  ambitious  of 
other  classes,  and,  moreover,  to  better  distinguish 
their  true  interest  than  many  of  them  have  done  to 
this  day. 

The  first  consideration  of  the  committee  chosen 
at  London,  in  1864,  exposes  the  necessity  for  work 
ingmen  to  emancipate  themselves. — The  second 
entertains  us — it  was  inevitable, — with  the  misdeeds 
of  the  bugbear,  to  which  it  is  the  custom  to-day, 
among  the  working  classes,  to  attribute  all  the  evils 
of  humanity,  as  the  royalists  of  1815  attributed 
them  to  Voltaire  and  Rousseau.  "  Considering  that 
the  subjection  of  the  laborer  to  capital'^  the  source 
of  all  political,  moral  and  material  servitude." 

Then  comes  the  grand  remedy,  the  new  panacea 
which  has  held  such  a  place  for  ten  years  in  the  or 
dinances  of  all  the  doctors  of  socialism,  solidarity: 
"  Considering  that  all  efforts  have  failed,  for  want 


History  of  the  International.  67 

of  solidarity  between  the  workingmen  of  different 
professions  in  each  country,  and  a  fraternal  union 
between  the  laborers  of  different  countries." 

The  following  considerations  only  developed  the 
necessity  of  that  famous  solidarity  destined  to  re 
generate  humanity  ;  they  ended  by  recognizing  the 
necessity  of  founding  an  International  Association 
of  laborers. 

All  the  members  of  this  association  and  all  those 
who  wish  to  join  it,  "  should  recognize  that  Truth, 
Justice,  Morality,  should  be  the  base  of  their  con 
duct  toward  all  men,  without  distinction  of  color, 
belief  or  nationality." 

Perhaps  the  compilers  of  these  statutes  believed 
that  they  had  made  a  great  discovery  and  realized 
an  immense  progress  in  proclaiming  as  the  rule  of 
their  conduct,  truth,  justice,  and  morality.  How 
ever,  no  society  has  ever  considered  itself  placed 
under  the  protection  of  injustice,  falsehood  and  im 
morality  ;  every  one  has  a  most  beautiful  desire  to 
conform  to  the  true,  the  just  and  the  good.  The 
misfortune  is  that  there  is  great  trouble  in  pre 
cisely  agreeing  upon  these  principles,  and  that,  for 
example,  the  immense  majority  of  French,  English, 
Germans,  Italians,  Spaniards  and  Russians  obsti 
nately  regarded  as  false,  unjust  and  immoral,  most 
of  the  principles  admitted  as  articles  of  faith  by 
the  International  in  its  later  congresses.  The  com 
pilers  of  these  statutes  have  then  taken  much 
trouble  for  nothing,  and  their  discovery  is  much 
less  precious  than  they  imagined. 

To  these  declarations  of  principles  and  declam- 


68  History  of  the  International. 

atory  or  chimerical  generalities  succeeds  the  prac 
tical  part,  that  is  to  say  a  sketch,  still  vague  and 
confused,  of  the  organization  of  the  future  society. 
The  principal  point  is  the  establishment  of  an 
annual  general  congress,  which  shall  have  the  office 
of  a  constituent  and  legislative  assembly,  and 
which  will  nominate  the  permanent  grand  council, 
destined  to  be  the  actual  government  of  the  society. 

They  urge,  moreover,  the  associates  to  use  in 
their  respective  countries  all  their  efforts  "  to  re 
unite  in  one  national  association,  the  different  ex 
isting  societies  of  workingmen,  also  to  create  in 
each  country  a  special  organ." 

Finally,  not  to  frighten  and  discourage  any  one, 
they  were  careful  to  recognize,  in  a  concluding 
article,  that,  "  although  united  by  a  fraternal  bond 
of  solidarity  and  cooperation,  the  workingmen's 
societies  would,  none  the  less,  continue  to  exist 
upon  the  principles  which  were  peculiar  to  them." 

Thus,  in  the  theoretical  part,  grand  declamatory 
phrases  and  false  ideas,  but,  unfortunately,  very 
well  calculated  to  attract  a  suffering  and  little 
enlightened  mob.  In  the  practical  part,  disposi 
tions  very  well  contrived,  and  a  first  element  of 
organization  skilfully  enough  conceived  to  offer 
grand  chances  of  success  ;  this  is  the  re'sume'  of 
the  work  of  the  first  committee  of  the  Interna 
tional. 

It  is,  truly,  already  a  society  little  worthy  of  en 
couragement,  and  we  see  too  well  of  what  passions 
it  made  use,  and  what  passions  it  tends  to  develop. 
However,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  is  a 


History  of  the  International.  69 

great  difference  between  these  ideas,  fatal  as  they 
are,  and  those  which  the  exultation  of  first  success 
hastened  to  develop  among  the  greater  part  of  its 
adherents. 


III.     HISTORY    OF  THE    INTERNATIONAL    ASSOCIATION 
OF     WORKINGlvfEN     BETWEEN     THE     BANQUET     AT 

SAINT-MARTIN'S   HALL    (1862,)    AND    THE    CON 
GRESS  OF  GENEVA  (1864). 

It  had  been  arranged,  at  London,  that  the  first 
annual  congress  should  take  place  the  following 
year,  that  is  to  say  1865,  at  Brussels. 

While  waiting  for  this  great  day,  the  organizers 
of  this  association,  on  their  return  to  their  respec 
tive  countries,  devoted  themselves  with  ardor  to 
their  work  of  propagation. 

The  want  of  success  of  the  manifesto  relative  to 
the  workingmen's  candidatures  in  1864,  and  the 
positively  ridiculous  number  of  votes  which  M. 
Tolain  had  received,  gave  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  new  society  would  be  recruited  with  much 
difficulty  in  France,  or  at  least  in  Paris.  This  was 
a  superficial  and  inconsiderate  judgment.  Thanks 
to  the  demoralization  which  the  spectacle  of  the 
scandalous  fortunes  of  the  heroes  of  December 
and  the  total  absence  of  political  liberty,  had 
spread  in  the  population  of  the  large  cities,  and 
especially  among  the  working  classes,  the  success 
of  the  preachings  of  the  International  was  unhap 
pily  too  well  assured. 

Moreover,  as  we  have  explained  above,  almost 


7O  History  of  the  International. 

all  the  working  population,  especially  that  which 
labors  in  large  work-shops,  was  already  enlisted  in 
the  very  numerous  associations,  of  which  some 
existed  in  broad  daylight  under  some  pretext  of 
study  or  mutual  benefit,  while  the  others,  who  had 
not  deigned  to  resort  to  these  disguises,  lived  in 
obscurity,  perhaps  not  ignored,*  but  tolerated  by 
the  administration.  Thanks  to  this  organization, 
the  conversions  effected  by  the  missionaries  of  the 
International  could  proceed  not  by  isolated  indi 
viduals,  but  by  compact  groups.  A  bureau  opened 
No.  44  Rue  des  Gravilliers  received  the  adhesions 
and  the  subscriptions.  Everything  was  transacted 
in  broad  daylight,  and  the  opening  of  this  bureau 
was  even  announced  in  the  journals  of  the  month 
of  January,  1865. 

In  his  speech  before  the  tribunal  of  the  police 
magistrate,  during  the  trial  of  the  second  commit 
tee  of  the  bureau  of  Paris,  a  man  who  was  to  play 
one  of  the  chief  rdles  in  the  Commune,  Varlin, 
teaches  us  that  the  year  1865  was  almost  entirely 
consecrated  to  this  propagandism.  "  The  Interna 
tional  Association,"  says  he,  "  had  to  make  itself 
known.  Its  progress  was  slow  at  first ;  however, 
after  existing  some  months,  it  counted  in  Paris  a 
sufficiently  large  number  of  adherents  to  cause 
belief  that  the  idea  had  been  understood,  and  that 
it  would  make  its  way.  A  sub-committee,  com 
posed  of  workingmen  belonging  to  the  different 
professions,  was  formed  in  order  to  aid  the  corre 
spondents  in  their  task,  and  especially  to  prepare 
the  congress  which  was  to  take  place.  It  was  in 


History  of  the  International.  71 

truth  urgent  that  France,  which  had  conceived  the 
association,  should  be  worthily  represented." 

However,  this  congress,  for  which  such  active 
preparations  had  been  made,  did  not  take  place. 
Varlin,  who  is  not  bound  to  tell  us  "  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,"  because  he 
did  not  appear  before  the  tribunal  as  witness,  but 
as  accused, — Varlin  pretends  that  if  the  reunion 
was  countermanded,  it  was  in  order  to  punish  the 
Belgian  government  for  having  just  "re-imposed 
its  law  upon  foreigners."  The  association,  not 
finding  Belgium  worthy  of  showing  it  hospitality, 
persisted  in  not  assembling  there,  in  order  to 
"  affirm  loudly  in  the  face  of  all  Europe  the  abso 
lute  right  of  reunion,  as  it  had  affirmed  in  France, 
by  constituting  itself,  the  natural  right  of  associ 
ation." 

We  easily  perceive  the  real  fact  which  is  con 
cealed  under  these  grand  words.  It  is  very  clear 
in  truth,  that  if,  in  order  to  affirm, — to  follow  the 
new  jargon  of  the  demagogic  party, — the  right  of 
association,  it  must  become  associated,  the  best 
way  which  could  be  found  of  affirming  the  right  of 
reunion,  would  be  to  re-unite. 

Moreover,  if  Belgium  ought  to  be  punished  for  a 
measure  which  its  government  had  taken,  the 
founders  of  the  International  preserved,  in  every 
c  se,  the  resource  of  transporting  their  affirmation 
into  England,  where  no  law  had  been  imposed  or 
re-imposed  upon  foreigners. 

The  truth,  disentangled  from  the  International 
phraseology  and  the  mania  for  affirmations  of  the 


72  History  of  the  International. 

citizen  Varlin,  is,  in  all  probability,  that  propagand- 
ism  had  not,  at  the  close  of  the  summer  of  1865, 
produced  sufficient  effect  to  warrant  trying,  with 
serious  chances  of  success,  a  general  reunion. 
Nothing  could  be  more  sure  of  cooling  the  growing 
zeal  of  the  catechumens,  than  to  find  themselves  in 
a  hall  hardly  filled,  where  few  of  the  different  nation 
alities  would  be  represented. 

The  general  congress  was  replaced  by  a  general 
conference,  held  at  London,  at  which  only  the  initi 
ated  were  present,  from  which  the  profane  were  re 
ligiously  excluded,  and  where  one  could  speak  with 
the  greatest  freedom  among  intimates.  They  did 
not  fail,  as  that  was  necessary,  to  announce  pom 
pously  in  all  the  journals,  that  they  had  received 
tidings  of  the  formation  of  numerous  groups  in  Ger 
many,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Denmark,  and  Belgium. 
After  a  little  time,  these  conquests  were  actually 
effected,  and  they  had  contributed  not  a  little  to 
their  success,  by  announcing  them  in  advance  as 
accomplished.  Is  not  this,  in  the  development  hap 
pily  nigh  at  hand,  the  game  which  Varlin  and  his 
friends  were  to  play  in  1871,  when  they  changed 
every  morning,  in  their  official  journal,  the  defeats 
undergone  by  their  troops  the  night  before  into  bril 
liant  victories  won  by  the  confederates  ? 

The  conference  at  London  was  closed,  always 
according  to  the  same  historian,  by  a  festival  which 
celebrated  the  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
association,  and  the  delegates  separated  naming 
Geneva  as  a  rendezvous,  where  it  had  been  decidedly 
chosen  to  hold  the  following  year  the  first  congress. 


History  of  the  International.  73 

Varlin  continues  by  enumerating  to  us  the  prin 
cipal  deeds  of  the  International : 

"In  the  course  of  the  year  1866,"  he  says,  "it 
showed  itself  in  a  most  conspicuous  manner  apro 
pos  to  the  military  events  of  which  Germany  and 
Italy  were  the  theatre. 

"  It  was  not  political,  but  it  affirmed  strongly  the 
social  principles  which  directed  it. 

"  It  opposed  the  right  of  labor  to  the  right  of 
arms  ;  it  placed  the  alliance  with  the  commonalty 
above  the  enmity  of  the  governments. 

"  And  finally,  in  the  month  of  June,  it  opposed 
the  economic  programme  of  the  congress  of  Geneva 
to  the  political  lucubrations  of  the  cabinets. 

"  It  prepared  the  public,  by  publications  almost 
weekly,  for  the  grand  reunion  which  was  to  estab 
lish  in  a  definite  manner  the  International  Associ 
ation,  up  to  that  time  in  a  provisional  state. 

"  In  the  month  of  July  following,  it  made  known 
to  its  adherents,  always  by  means  of  the  journals, 
the  efforts  made  in  the  country  for  the  constitu 
tion  of  new  bureaus. 

"  In  the  month  of  September,  1866,  the  congress 
of  Geneva  took  place.  Seventeen  French  delegates 
presented  themselves  at  this  reunion,  where  the 
fundamental  compact  was  debated  and  voted. 

"  The  Association  existed  this  time  in  a  definite 
manner  ;  it  entered  into  the  practical  road." 

The  friends  of  the  International  will  not  com 
plain  that  we  have  represented  unfaithfully  this 
part  of  its  history,  since  it  is  from  one  of  the  fathers 
of  its  church,  that  we  have  borrowed  it  literally. 

4 


74  History  of  the  International. 

Now,  in  order  not  to  divide  up  our  history  need 
lessly,  and  to  place  alone  in  one  chapter  the  history 
of  the  four  councils,  we  mean  of  the  four  congresses 
in  which  the  new  faith  was  elaborated,  we  will  pro 
ceed  to  expose  the  organization  of  the  democratic 
and  social  church.  We  can  do  this  so  much  the 
better  because  this  organization  was  not  created 
but  simply  confirmed  by  the  congress  of  Geneva. 

• 
. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ORGANIZATION   OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCI 
ATION  OF   WORKINGMEN. 

I.       THEORY    AND     PRACTICE. — SECTIONS. — FEDERA 
TIONS. — BRANCHES. 

Up  to  this  time  the  writers  who  have  treated  of 
the  International  and  described  its  organization, 
have  too  easily  confounded  on  this  subject  the 
theory  and  the  practice,  the  rules  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  were  enforced. 

It  is,  however,  necessary  to  distinguish,  apropos 
of  all  societies  in  general,  between  the  provisions 
written  in  their  statutes,  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  applied. 

It  is  still  more  necessary  to  make  this  distinction 
in  judging  of  the  International. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  theory. 

A  larger  or  smaller  number  of  members  of  the 
association  grouped  together,  either  because  they 
belong  in  the  same  country  to  the  same  body  of 
trade,  or  more  simply,  in  other  cases,  because  they 
inhabit  the  same  city  or  same  locality,  form  a  sec 
tion.  Several  sections  of  the  same  region  form  a 
federation.  All  these  federations  united  compose 
the  association  which  is  directed  by  the  annual  con 
gresses  and  governed  by  the  general  council.  The 
members  of  each  section  choose  from  among  them 
selves  the  delegates  who  are  to  represent  them, 


76  History  of  the  International. 

some  at  the  federal  council,  others  at  the  congress. 
The  congress,  in  its  turn,  elects  the  members  of 
the  general  council,  whence  it  follows  that  the  asso 
ciation  is  always  in  theory,  administered  from  a 
government  sprung  from  an  election  of  two  grada 
tions. 

In  practice,  it  seems  that  things  have  occurred  in 
a  precisely  inverse  manner.  The  founders  of  the 
society  seemed  to  have  constituted  from  the  begin 
ning  the  general  council,  whose  powers  have  been 
simply  confirmed  by  the  pretext  of  an  election  by 
the  four  annual  congresses  which  have  already 
been  held.  Finally,  as  far  as  it  is  lawful  for  us  to 
conjecture  in  such  matters  what  takes  place  in  the 
heart  of  a  society  to  which  we  do  not  belong,  and 
to  which  we  have  never  had  the  slightest  wish  to 
belong,  it  is  likely  enough  that  in  a  number  of 
cases,  without  doubt  in  the  majority  of  them,  the 
delegates  of  each  section  are  the  active  and  enter 
prising  men  who  formed  it,  by  grouping  around 
them  an  unimportant  nucleus  of  catechumens. 

An  example,  which  all  the  Parisians  who  assisted 
at  the  first  siege  are  acquainted  with,  will  illustrate 
our  supposition. 

We  know  how  a  large  number  of  battalions  of 
the  national  guard  were  formed  after  the  4th  of 
September. 

A  small  number  of  ardent  revolutionists,  in  gen 
eral  all  associated  with  or  members  of  the  Interna 
tional,  (and  it  is  this  fact  which  renders  our 
hypothesis  infinitely  probable,)  united  themselves, 
distributed  among  their  friends  nearly  all  the  epau- 


History  of   the  International.  77 

lets,  from  those  of  the  commandant  down  to  those  of 
the  second  lieutenant ;  then  they  sought  out  in  the 
neighborhood  some  hundreds  of  simple  people, 
whom  they  persuaded  in  one  way  or  another  to 
join  the  new  battalion.  Each  one  believed  simply 
that  the  elections  had  been  made  before  his  enlist 
ment,  but  that  he  only  obeyed  after  all  the  officers 
chosen  by  his  comrades  ;  in  reality,  he  found  him 
self  enrolled,  although  he  was  there  without  sus 
pecting  it,  in  a  corps,  equipped  solely  by  the  revo 
lutionary  party,  in  view  of  a  war  to  be  declared 
some  day  against  society,  and  not  of  the  actual 
conflict  with  the  Prussians.  As  the  mass  of  men 
thus  enrolled  were  ignorant  of  politics,  indifferent 
and  easy  to  lead,  the  battalion  was  very  soon  won 
by  the  party  of  social  revolution.  When,  by 
chance,  they  had  to  do  with  an  honest  and  intelli 
gent  majority,  it  finally  freed  itself,  but  with  some 
trouble,  from  the  sorry  fellows  who  had  organized  it. 
It  was  thus  that  Sappia,  who  was  to  perish  in  the 
insurrection  of  January  23rd,  was,  early  in  the 
month  of  October,  1871,  arrested  by  his  battalion, 
whom  he  wished  to  lead  to  the  assault  of  the  Ho 
tel  de  ville. 

It  was  thus  also  that  Varlin,  who  had  possessed 
himself  of  the  command  of  the  I93rd  battalion, 
was  finally  deposed  during  the  siege,  thanks  to  the 
energy  which  the  honest  men  who  composed  the  im 
mense  majority  of  that  corps  displayed  in  opposing 
a  chief  whose  antisocial  ideas  and  behavior  dis 
gusted  them  ;  only  they  had  the  greatest  trouble 
in  freeing  themselves  from  that  commandant  who 
pretended  to  have  been  chosen  by  themselves. 


78  History  of  the  International. 

:#m. 

In  the  International,  accidents  of  this  kind  were 
not  to  be  feared,  and  the  ringleaders,  who  had 
formed  a  section  or  federation,  have  been  until  n  ow, 
as  we  have  reason  to  suppose,  almost  sure  of  re 
maining  as  its  delegates.  Officially,  their  authority 
comes  from  it ;  in  reality,  it  has  only  existence 
through  them.  The  brave,  honest  men  who  let 
themselves  be  duped  by  these  ringleaders,  believed 
that  they  gave  an  impulse,  by  their  votes,  to  one  of 
the  grandest  forces  which  existed  at  that  time  in 
Europe  ;  in  reality,  there  were  hundreds  of  thou 
sands,  millions  of  poor  devils,  who  were  so  many 
puppets  of  whom  the  ringleaders  pulled  the  string, 
and  the  too  probable  suspicions  respecting  certain 
relations  of  Assi  with  the  chiefs  of  Bonapartism, 
prove  sufficiently  that  this  immense  army  could,  at 
a  given  moment,  be  led  in  a  body  to  battle,  not 
only  in  a  cause  of  which  it  was  ignorant,  but  even 
in  the  interest  of  the  men  whom  it  most  violently 
hated. 

To  return  to  the  organization  of  the  Interna 
tional,  the  associates  form  the  first,  the  elementary 
groups  called  sections.  Certain  sections,  in  conse 
quence  of  peculiar  circumstances,  remain  isolated  ; 
but,  ordinarily,  the  sections  of  the  same  region  are 
formed  into  Q\\Z  federation. 

Although  the  principle  of  the  International  is 
the  annulment  of  nationalities,  nevertheless  the  same 
force  of  things  has  led  to  embracing  all  the  federa 
tions  of  the  same  country  under  the  name  of  a 
branch. 

All   the    sections,    all    the  federatiotts,  all    the 


History  of  the  International.  79 

branches •,    taken    together,   constitute    the    Inter 
national  Association  of  Workingmen. 


II.  LOCAL  COMMITTEES. — FEDERAL  COUNCILS. 

Let  us  pass  now  from  the  associates  to  the  differ 
ent  councils  which  they  represent. 

Several  sections  near  to  each  other,  too  small  to 
form  a  federation,  unite  to  constitute  a  local  com 
mittee,  which  serves  as  a  medium  between  them  and 
the  federal  committee.  When  these  sections  are 
numerous  enough  in  one  region  to  form  quite  an 
important  group,  they  constitute  a  federation.  In 
this  case,  each  section  sends  its  delegates  to  the 
federal  council,  which  serves  at  the  same  time  as  a 
medium  between  the  different  sections,  and  be 
tween  the  sections  and  the  general  council. 

"  This  council,"  says  M.  Oscar  Testut,  "is  charged 
with  the  defence  of  the  salaries  and  the  different 
interests  of  the  corporation,  and  the  consideration 
of  economic  and  social  questions ;  it  must  en 
deavor  to  establish  a  union  between  all  the  work- 
ingmen  in  their  struggle  against  \hzfarmitigof  the 
capital.  It  is  bound  to  make  an  active  propagand- 
ism  among  the  working  classes,  to  explain  to  them 
the  principles  and  the  end  of  the  International,  to 
initiate  them  into  its  organization,  to  lend  them  its 
aid  when  they  wish  to  be  formed  into  regular  soci 
eties,  and  to  furnish  them  for  that  purpose  with 
necessary  directions. 

"  Every  month  the  federal  council  is  obliged  to 
send  to  the  general  council  a  statement  of  the  sit- 


80  History  of  jhe  International. 

uation  of  the  federation,  and  a  report  concerning 
the  administration  and  the  financial  condition  of 
the  sections  situated  in  its  jurisdiction. 

"  It  is  this  also  which  decides  upon  the  demands 
for  loans  addressed  to  the  federation,  upon  the  op 
portunity  for  sustaining  strikes,  obtaining  loans 
from  an  adherent  society,  or  from  the  general  coun 
cil,  of  sending  delegates  to  the  congress,  of  admitt 
ing  or  refusing  the  associating  of  a  new  society, 
etc.,  etc.  It  is  charged,  moreover,  with  enforcing 
the  orders  of  the  general  statutes  and  the  decision 
of  the  congress  ;  all  the  communications  emanating 
from  the  general  council  are  addressed  to  it ,  to  be 
read  to  the  different  members,  who  are  in  their 
turn  to  make  them  known  to  the  corporations,  of 
which  they  are  the  delegates. 

''The  constitution  and  the  composition  of  the 
federal  council  varies  according  to  the  importance 
of  the  localities,  and  the  larger  or  smaller  number 
of  the  working  classes  federated." 

Most  localities  do  not  possess  a  federal  council, 
They  are  only  established  when  the  multiplication 
of  the  sections  renders  its  formation  necessary  in 
order  to  have  a  common  center  of  action. 

When  a  federal  council  exists  in  a  locality,  it 
alone  corresponds  with  the  general  council  by 
means  of  a  corresponding  secretary.  Two  collec 
tive  letters  addressed  in  1867,  the  first  to  the  dif 
ferent  democratic  journals,  the  second  to  \htjournal 
des  Debats,  by  M.  M.  Tolain,  Varlin  and  Fribourg, 
who  all  signed  themselves  at  the  same  time  in  the 
capacity  of  correspondents,  give  us  reason  to  believe 


History  of  ike  International.  $t 

that  these  corresponding  secretaries  have  also  in 
their  province  the  relations  of  the  society  with 
the  press. 

Have  the  different  federations  a  common  center 
in  each  country  ?  This  is  hardly  to  be  doubted, 
and  as  for  France,  in  particular,  we  have  only  seen 
too  well  with  what  unanimity  the  society  obeys  the 
word  of  command. 

However,  it  does  not  seem  that  one  sole  center, 
belonging  to  each  nationality,  has  everywhere 
an  existence  openly  recognized.  Thus,  while 
we  see  that  there  is  in. Belgium  a  general  Bel- 
gic  Council  which  is  the  central  point  whither  all 
the  federations  of  the  country  lead,  the  magistrates 
under  the  empire  charged  with  drawing-  up  the 
three  charges  against  the  society,  could  not  find, 
among  so  many  important  papers  which  they  had 
seized,  but  one  which  authenticated  the  existence  of 
a  supreme  council  for  all  France. 

The  new  edition  of  the  work  of  M.  Testut  con 
tains  a  document,  until  now  unpublished,  which  is 
of  the  greatest  interest  upon  this  question.  This  is 
a  copy  : 

REPUBLIC,  DEMOCRATIC  AND  SOCIAL. 

DELEGATION. 

The  federal  council  of  the  Paris  sections  of  the  International 
Association  of  Workingmen,  and  the  revolutionary  delegation  of* 
the  twenty  arrondissements  of  Paris,  delegate  and  give  full  powers 
to  citizen  Albert  Leblanc,  member  of  the  International,  and  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  delegation  of  the  twenty  arrondisse- 
rttents  of  Paris,  to  be  respected  by  the  sections  of  the  International 
and  the  revolutionary  groups  of  the  province. 

4* 


82  History  of  the  International. 


PARIS,    FEBRUARY,  iSjl. 

For  the  federal  council 

of  the  International  Association  For  the  delegation  : 

of  Workingmen  :  CONSTANT  MARTIN, 

HENRI  GOULLE,  Secretary. 

Secretary. 

It  seems  then,  according  to  the  amplest  informa 
tion  obtained  from  this  paper  (evidently  of  the  most 
secret  character,  consequently  very  well  suited  to 
reveal  to  us  the  truth),  that  the  French  branch  of 
the  International  has  not  a  special  superior  council 
named  by  all  the  federations,  but  that  the  federal 
council  of  Paris  has  over  the  other  federations  and 
sections  of  the  country,  a  supremacy  accepted  in 
reality  if  not  recognized  by  right. 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  papers  seized 
since  the  fall  of  the  communist  insurrection  give 
us  full  light  on  this  point  The  debates  which  have 
been  opened  at  Versailles  before  the  councils  of 
war  cannot  fail  to  enlighten  us  upon  some  points 
yet  more  obscure. 


III.  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  —  CONGRESS. 

However  this  may  be,  the  local  committees  and  the 
federal  councils,  whose  provinces  we  have  just  made 
known,  lead  to  a  common  center,  the  general  coun 
cil,  the  seat  of  which  was,  in  theory,  to  be  desig 
nated  by  the  congress  for  the  following  year,  but 
which,  in  fact,  had  been  from  the  first,  established 
at  London,  where  the  society  was  founded,  and 
seemed  as  if  it  would  remain  there  always,  unless 


tfistory  of  the  international.  83 

Some  events  hardly  probable  should  oblige  it  to  be 
removed.* 

"  The  general  council,"  says  M.  Testut,  "  should 
present  at  each  congress  a  public  report  of  the 
doings  of  the  year,  it  should  establish  relations  with 
the  different  workingmen's  associations,  examine 
the  questions  which  are  submitted  by  the  sections, 
and  decide  if  there  is  a  general  interest  in  what  is 
to  be  discussed  at  the  next  congress. 

"  It  is  charged  with  the  organization  of  the  con 
gress,  and,  to  this  end,  it  must  publish  in  advance 
its  programme,  and  make  it  known  to  all  the  sec 
tions  by  means  of  their  corresponding  secretaries. 

"  Every  quarter,  it  is  bound  to  make  known  the 
state  of  the  working  classes  in  all  the  countries,  the 
situation  of  the  cooperative  societies,  the  size  of 
the  salaries,  the  adhesions  which  they  have  acquired, 
the  strikes  which  have  broken  out,  the  results  ob 
tained,  etc.  To  this  effect,  a  written  communica 
tion  is  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  each  section : 
it  is  reproduced  in  the  journals  of  the  International. 

"  There  appears  a  fact  of  an  important  nature  to 
compromise  the  future  of  the  association,  and  to 
change  its  character ;  if  it  concerns  the  attacks 
directed  against  it  or  a  great  blow  to  be  struck,  the 
general  council  publishes  the  manifesto,  of  which 
many  thousand  copies  are  struck  off,  translated  into 
all  languages  and  scattered  in  profusion  in  all  the 
working  centers.  These  manifestoes  conclude 
with  this  formula :  In  the  name  of  the  general  council 

*  M.  Testut  tells  us  that  the  bureaus  of  the  council  are  estab* 
lished  at  256  High  Holborn,  London* 


84  History  of  the  International. 

of  the  International  Association  of  Workingmen,  and 
are  signed  by  all  the  secretaries." 

The  council  is  charged  with  collecting  all  the 
documents  which  are  communicated  to  it ;  "  the 
duty  devolves  upon  it  of  executing  the  resolutions 
of  the  congress.  It  is  judge  of  the  disputes  which 
may  arise  between  the  sections  or  members  of  the 
International  Association,  reserving  appeal  to  the 
next  congress  ;  it  always  decrees  after  a  report 
presented  by  a  jury  of  honor." 

This  general  council  is, — at  least  officially, — 
named  each  year  by  the  congress.*  In  fact,  since 
the  founding  of  the  society,  its  composition  has  not 
varied  in  a  very  sensible  manner,  and  the  men  who 
know  how  to  have  themselves  elected  are  always 
those  who  had  the  first  notion  of  the  association, 
who  have  created  it,  and  who  hold  it  in  their  hands 
at  their  personal  distribution,  perhaps  even,  in  cer 
tain  cases,  at  the  disposition  of  some  great  leader, 
discreetly  kept  in  the  shade,  whose  secret  plans  the 
innocent  mass  of  associates  accomplishes  probably, 

*  In  the  very  instructive  book  of  M.  Oscar  Testut,  from  which 
we  have  borrowed  so  much,  we  find  a  passage  which  shows  us  how 
the  founders  of  the  International  understood  maintaining  their 
friends  or  their  creatures  in  the  important  posts  of  the  society. 
We  can  judge  by  this  that  they  were  no  more  at  a  loss  how  to  main 
tain  themselves  : 

"  The  9th  article  of  the  general  statutes  gives,  it  is  true,  to  each 
section  the  right  of  naming  its  correspondents ;  but  this  power 
exists  only  with  certain  restrictions.  In  theory,  when  one  section 
is  in  process  of  organization,  it  is  the  general  council  which  confers 
upon  a  member  already  affiliated  with  the  International,  the  title  of 
correspondent  ;  the  section  once  organized,  this  choice  is  always 
ratified  by  the  adherents." 


History  of  the  International.  85 

at  certain  times,  without  suspecting  whom  it  is 
obeying. 

The  workingmen  of  Creuzot  little  knew,  in  the 
beginning  of  1870,  what  grudges  they  were  satis 
fying  and  what  political  intrigues  they  were 
serving. 

The  confederates  of  1871,  of  whom  many,  with 
out  doubt,  still  loved  their  country,  although  joined 
to  the  International,  did  not  ask  themselves  if  the 
insurrection,  whose  success  made  them  so  proud, 
was  not  by  chance  seen  with  joy  at  Berlin,  if  the 
^revolution  of  March  1 8th  was  not  a  new  victory  for 
Bismarck.  The  destroyers  of  the  colonne  Vendome 
did  not  dream  that  the  ropes  attached  to  the  monu 
ment  which  recalled  our  victories  over  Germany, 
had,  perhaps,  been  placed  there  at  a  command  from 
beyond  the  Rhine.  As  soon  as  the  Commune  had 
conquered,  the  Germans,  who,  after  having  served 
in  it,  sought  refuge  in  the  Prussian  lines,  were 
immediately  shot.  We  are  certain  that  they  will 
no  longer  betray  any  secrets, — Moliere  had  already 
remarked  the  perfect  discretion  of  the  dead. 

This  digression  must  not  take  us  too  long  from 
our  subject.  Let  us  hasten  then  to  return  to  the 
general  council. 

We  have  related  how  it  is  chosen,  according  to 
the  text  of  the  statutes  ;  we  have  indicated  what  is 
the  real  state  of  the  case. 

However  that  may  be,  its  members  are  all  (or 
nearly  all)  workingmen  ;  they  represent  the  differ 
ent  nations  which  form  the  association. 

"  The  members  of  the  bureau,"  says  M.  Testut, 


&6  History  of  the  International. 

"  are  taken  from  itself ;  there  is  a  president,  a  gen 
eral  secretary,  a  treasurer,  and  as  many  special  sec 
retaries  as  there  are  different  countries,  which  are 
found  in  the  sections  of  the  International. 

"  These  last  are  for  correspondence  with  the  spe 
cial  secretaries  designated  by  each  section  ;  they 
are  the  attornies  who  alone  receive,  in  their  re 
spective  cities,  the  communications  made  by  the 
general  council,  give  shares  to  the  members,  re 
ceive  the  assessments  which  they  transmit  to  Lon 
don,  keep  the  general  council  acquainted  with  the 
movement  of  the  working  class,  address  to  it  the 
reports  upon  the  situation  of  each  section,  upon 
its  needs,  its  aspirations,  and  initiating  it  into  all 
that  is  said  and  done  in  their  center  of  action  ; 
but  for  making  these  communications,  there  are 
hierarchic  rules  to  be  observed ;  they  can  not 
immediately  address  the  president  of  the  general 
council.  All  their  correspondence  must  be  sent  to 
the  particular  secretary,  who  represents  before  the 
council  the  nation  to  which  they  belong.  Thus 
the  secretaries  of  Rouen,  Lyons,  Paris,  Marseilles, 
can  and  must  correspond  only  with  the  citizen 
Eugene  Dupont,  It  remains  to  be  added,  that  in 
the  countries  where  the  restrictive  laws  prevent 
the  formation  of  a  center  of  action  with  safety,  the 
mission  of  the  general  council  is  to  correspond 
with  the  individual  branches  ;  such  was  the  situa* 
tion  of  France  before  1869." 

The  general  council  plays  the  r61e  of  executive 
power  in  the  International,  and  as  such  it  is  per* 
manent. 


History  of  the  international.  &? 

The  legislative  power,  that  the  force  of  circum 
stances  obliges  to  unite  once  a  year  and  in  an 
extremely  short  session,  is  the  congress. 

It  is  to  the  general  council  that  belongs  the  care 
of  organizing  the  congress,  of  determining  upon 
the  definite  programme,  of  sending  it,  by  means  of 
correspondents,  to  all  the  federations  and  sections, 
This  programme  is,  moreover,  published  in  advance 
by  all  the  journals  which  the  association  rules. 

If  the  general  council  organizes  the  congress,  it 
does  not  convoke  it,  at  least  in  ordinary  circum 
stances. 

Each  congress  indicates,  before  separating,  the 
place  and  time  of  the  next  congress.  At  the  fixed 
epoch,  and  without  which  there  would  be  need  of 
a  special  convocation,  all  the  delegates  assemble  at 
the  appointed  day  and  place.  The  general  council 
has  the  right,  in  case  of  urgent  business,  to  urge 
this  reunion  before  the  epoch  indicated  ;  it  can, 
also,  if  an  unforeseen  circumstance  renders  such  a 
measure  necessary,  change  the  place  named  for  the 
rendezvous.  But  it  cannqt,  in  any  case,  put  off  the 
time.  Such  is,  at  least,  the  letter  of  the  law.  The 
events  of  the  last  year  have  already  constrained 
the  members  of  the  association  to  suffer  for  once 
the  violation,  and  a  note  which  we  find  in  one  of 
the  organs  of  the  association,  LEgalitt  [issue  of 
September  3rd,  1870,]  tells  us  that  it  is  the  general 
council  itself  which  "has  decided  to  adjourn  the 
convocation  of  the  general  congress  to  a  time  more 
favorable  for  the  reunion  of  the  delegates  of  the 
workingmen  of  all  countries."  It  is  lawful  to 


8$  History  of  the  International. 

inquire  if  the  general  council  would  not  find  itself 
this  year  in  the  face  of  a  moral  impossibility,  at 
least  as  evident  as  was  in  1870  the  material  impos 
sibility.  But  if  it  is  otherwise,  it  will  be  very  in 
teresting  to  know  the  public  report  that  the  execu 
tive  power  should  address  to  the  congress,  and  the 
"  picture  of  the  progress  of  the  association,"  which 
it  is  under  obligation  to  present  to  it.  We  are 
curious  to  knpw  if  the  burning  of  our  buildings 
and  our  private  houses,  as  well  as  the  massacre  of 
a  part  of  the  clergy  of  Paris,  of  two  generals,  of 
a  republican  journalist,  and  of  thirty  or  forty  gen 
darmes,  will  be  glorified  as  a  title  of  honor  for  the 
association  which  has  given  birth  to  the  central 
committee  of  the  national  guard  and  to  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris. 


IV.    PARTICULAR    STATUTES    OF    THE  FEDERATIONS. 

We  find  at  the  close  of  the  volume  the  statutes 
of  the  association  as  they  were  adopted  at  the  first 
congress,  held  at  Geneva  in  1866.  The  principal 
laws  are  to  be  found  in  what  we  have  said  of  the 
general  organization  of  the  society. 

The  different  federations  can  also  have  their 
particular  laws,  with  the  sole  condition  that  they 
contain  nothing  contrary  to  the  general  laws 
adopted  by  the  whole  society.  Most  of  the  federa 
tions  exercise  this  right.  M.  Testut  has  published 
a  certain  number  of  these  particular  statutes. 
They  ordinarily  present  nothing  very  curious ; 
they  almost  all  offer  laws  differing  very  little  from 
one  another,  and  all  inspired  by  the  same  spirit. 


History  of  the  International.  89 

Those  of  the  Paris  federation  have  this  singu 
larity,  that,  by  a  coincidence  wholly  fortuitous, 
they  bore  a  date  which  was  to  receive,  a  year  later, 
a  sad  celebrity  ;  it  was  the  i8th  of  March,  1870, 
that  the  text  of  the  plan  which  contained  them  was 
definitely  determined  upon  at  a  reunion  at  which, 
among  other  personages  destined  to  play  a  rdle 
that  year,  were  present  Malon,  Combault,  and  Av- 
rial.  A  month  later,  the  igth  of  April,  they  were 
discussed  and  accepted  at  a  general  reunion  of  the 
Paris  section,  presided  over  by  Varlin. 

We  find  here,  in  every  line,  the  trace  of  that 
incurable  defiance  which  is  the  vice  of  democracy 
generally,  but  especially  of  the  democracy  of 
Paris.  We  remember  with  what  ardor  the  orators 
of  the  electoral  reunions  of  1869,  and  the  writers 
of  socialistic  tracts  insisted  that  the  candidates 
designated  by  the  party  should  pledge  themselves 
in  writing  to  tender  their  resignation  at  the  first 
summons  of  their  electors.  This  novelty,  which 
they  could  not  introduce  into  the  laws  of  the 
country,  has  at  least  found  place  in  the  statutes  of 
the  federation  of  Paris  :  "  Each  section  nominates 
and  changes  its  delegates  when  it  pleases."  (Ar 
ticle  2d.)  "At  the  first  meetings  of  April  and 
October,  the  federal  council  will  nominate  its 
bureau.  The  members  of  the  bureau  are  constantly 
liable  to  be  recalled  by  the  council." 

Without  doubt,  the  skill  of  the  managers  in 
maintaining  themselves  always  in  the  places  which 
they  had  assigned  to  themselves  at  the  beginning 
of  the  work,  lessens  the  practical  inconveniences 


96  tJistory  of  the  International. 

which  perpetual  changes  in  the  officials  of  the 
association  would  present.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  order  to  guard  their  positions,  the  leaders  are 
obliged  to  submit,  in  many  cases,  to  the  influence 
of  the  masses  whom  they  hope  to  lead.  This, 
probably,  is  the  explanation  of  some  of  the  most 
enormous  mistakes  committed  either  before,  or 
especially  after  March  i8th,  1871,  by  those  among 
them  who  were  represented  as  the  most  intelligent. 
The  demagogic  party  has  always  been,  of  all  parties, 
the  one  in  which  the  head  is  most  often  led  by  the 
tail.  Everyone  knows  the  celebrated  saying,  "  I 
must  follow  them,  since  I  am  their  leader."  The 
leaders  of  the  International  had  abundant  occasion 
to  borrow  this  from  the  ancient  idol  of  the  Jacobin 
party. 

In  the  statutes  of  the  Lyons  federation,  we 
notice  only  one  detail,  instructive,  despite  its  child 
ishness  ;  article  7,  after  having  regulated  the  de 
partments  of  the  federal  committee,  adds  :  "  The 
committee  has  no  president,  but  a  special  secretary 
and  treasurer." 

It  is  not  to  be  believed  that  this  abolition  of  the 
presidency  was  inscribed  there  by  chance.  No, 
this  not  very  formidable  title  of  president  of  a 
committee,  suffices  to  excite  the  jealousy,  always 
on  the  alert,  of  the  socialistic  party.  The  question 
of  the  presidency  had  been  gravely  proposed  and 
discussed  in  1869  at  the  congress  of  Basle  which 
voted,  with  the  utmost  seriousness,  the  following 
resolution : 

"  Considering  that  it  is  not  becoming  for  a  work- 


History  of  the  international.  Qf 

ingmen's  society  to  maintain  in  its  bosom  a  mo- 
narchial  and  authoritative  principle  by  admitting 
presidents,  even  when  they  are  not  invested  with 
any  power,  distinctions  purely  honorary  being  yet 
an  injury  to  democratic  principles  ; 

"  The  congress  enjoins  upon  all  the  sections  and 
workingmen's  societies  affiliated  with  the  Interna 
tional  to  abolish  the  presidency  in  their  constitu 
tion."  This  recommendation  was  promptly  fol 
lowed  by  nearly  all. 

It  is  thus  that  we  see  Varlin,  November  2ist,  in 
the  •'  committee  of  initiative  of  the  syndical  cham 
ber  of  bakers,"  at  which  he  was  present  in  the 
capacity  of  member  of  the  International,  carrying 
through  "  the  democratic  principle  of  the  election  of 
the  president  at  each  assembly,"  by  saying  that  "  it 
is  an  act  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity."  The 
official  report  of  the  meeting  mentions  that  "  the 
unanimous  assent  proves  to  Varlin  that  he  is 
understood." 

We  see,  from  these  facts,  with  what  sentiment 
the  decree  of  the  Commune  proceeded,  which  abol 
ished  the  title  of  general  as  hardly  democratic ; 
we  see  why  the  Commune  had  at  each  meeting 
one  or  two  new  presidents  ;  we  understand,  finally, 
why  all  the  great  men  of  the  i8th  of  March,  who 
seized  upon  the  different  offices,  were  contented 
with  the  modest  title  of  delegates.  How  could  the 
conspirators  of  the  central  committee  bear  to  see 
these  brilliant  titles  of  general  and  minister,  at 
tached  to  the  names  of  comrades  with  whom  they 
had  touched  glasses  in  the  drinking  shops  of 


Q2  History  of  the  International. 

Montmartre,  they  who  could  not  even  bear  the 
modest  title  of  president  of  a  workingmen's  com 
mittee  ? 


V.     BUDGET    OF    THE     INTERNATIONAL.  —  GENERAL 
AND      PARTICULAR       BUDGETS.  YEARLY      AND 

MONTHY    ASSESSMENTS.  —  "LA    CAISSE    DU    SOU." 

;  w   • 

It-remains  for  us,  in  exhausting  the  details  of  the 
organization  of  the  International,  to  explain  the 
budget  of  the  association.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
say,  that  the  official  accounts  deceive  us,  and  that 
the  documents,  which  would  permit  us  to  estimate, 
even  approximately,  the  receipts  and  expenses  of 
this  army  of  the  demagogy,  are  not  in  our  hands. 

That  which  we  can  say  is,  that  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  statutes,  every  member  of  the  asso 
ciation  must,  at  first,  at  the  time  of  his  admission, 
pay  a  right  of  entrance  of  50  centimes,  in  exchange 
for  which  he  receives  his  ticket  of  membership. 
This  ticket  is  afterwards  gratuitously  renewed 
each  year. 

He  is  bound,  besides,  to  pay  an  infinitely  small 
assessment  of  10  centimes  a  year,  designed  to  meet 
the  general  expenses  of  the  society.  The  funds 
arising  from  this  source  are  remitted  to  the  general 
council,  which  has  the  management  of  them. 

Moreover,  each  federation  demands  from  its 
members  a  special  assessment  for  the  expenses  of 
the  federation  itself.  At  Lyons  and  at  Paris,  this 
assessment  is  fixed  at  10  centimes  apiece  monthly. 
The  Lyons  federation  is  charged  to  pay  upon  this 


•History  of  the  International.  93 

sum,  the  annual  assessment  of  its  members  for 
general  funds :  it  seems  that  it  is  not  the  same  at 
Paris.  However  that  may  be,  the  sum  payable 
annually  by  each  associate  is  sufficiently  light :  i 
franc,  20  centimes  at  Lyons,  I  franc,  30  centimes  at 
Paris,  that  is  not  paying  too  dear  for  the  honor  of 
belonging  to  a  society  which  aspires  to  govern  the 
world  and  commences  by  burning  it. 

One  can  belong  to  it  at  a  still  better  bargain, 
since  the  federation  of  those  sections,  whose  seat  is 
at  Geneva,  only  demands  10  centimes  a  year  from 
each  of  its  members. 

It  seems,  however,  that  such  modest  sums  did 
not  come  in  easily,  if  we  judge  by  the  precautions 
inscribed  in  the  statutes  against  members  or  sec 
tions  who  delayed  their  payments. 

In  1859,  the  Congress  of  Basle,  instructed  prob 
ably  by  a  mournful  experience  of  the  slight  alacrity 
which  brothers  and  friends  showed  in  opening  their 
purses,  inscribed  in  its  administrative  resolutions 
article  8,  full  of  meaning :  • 

"  In  future  only  those  delegates  of  the  societies, 
sections,  or  groups  affiliated  with  the  International, 
and  who  have  obeyed  the  rule  of  the  general  coun 
cil  as  regards  the  payment  of  their  assessments, 
will  be  admitted  to  a  seat  and  a  vote  in  the  congress." 

The  statutes  of  the  Paris  federation  are  not  less 
instructive : 

"  One  of  the  delegates  of  the  sections  must  de 
posit  at  the  first  assembly  of  the  month,  the  calcu 
lated  sum  in  the  hands  of  the  treasurer,  and  he 
gives  notice  at  the  third  monthly  reunion,  by  a 


94  History  of   the  International.* 

note  affixed  to  the  room,  of  the  sections  which  have 
violated  the  rule. 

"After  a  month's  delay,  the  suspension  of  the 
section  is  legal ;  its  delegates  have  no  longer  voice 
in  the  council :  after  three  months  it  is  announced 
that  its  name  has  been  struck  off."* 

We  add  that  the  members  of  the  association  are 
without  doubt,  to  pay  each  to  their  respective  sec 
tions  an  assessment,  much  larger  than  that  which 
they  pay  to  their  federation,  and  to  the  general  coun 
cil.  In  a  letter  of  Varlin's,  dated  at  Lille,  where 
he  went  in  the  month  of  April,  1870,  to  organize 
a  section  of  the  International,  we  find  the  following 
lines  ; 

"The  isolated  adherents  deposit  10  centimes  a 
week,  the  members  of  the  sections  5  centimes  a 
week  equally.  You  perceive  we  have  copied  a  little 
from  your  federation,  a  little  from  that  of  Lyons." 
(Account  given  of  the  three  trials,  p.  58.) 

We  can  estimate  upon  the  whole  at  7  or  8  francs 
almost  all  the  different  assessments,  regular  and 
obligatory,  paid  to  the  different  treasuries  of  the 
International  by  its  associates  in  the  large  cities  of 
France. 

These  resources  are  not  the  only  ones,  nor 
doubtless  the  most  important  of  the  society  ;  but 
its  other  sources  of  revenue  are  not  fixed,  and  they 
are  not  so  easy  to  be  understood  by  an  outsider. 

Thus,  in  the  accounts  rendered  of  the  different 


*  The  complete  text  of  these  statutes  can  be  found  in  the  book 
of  M.  Oscar  Testut. 


History  of  the  International.  95 

suits  which  have  been  brought  against  it,  there  is, 
in  each  instance,  question  as  to  the  caisse  federative 
dn  sou*  without  very  well  defining  the  exact  mean 
ing  of  the  expression.  Following  the  particular 
information  that  we  have  been  able  to  collect,  we 
have  reason  to  believe  that  there  existed  a  treasury 
filled  by  means  of  voluntary  subscriptions  of  5 
centimes  apiece  weekly,  collected  in  the  workshops 
and  furnished  in  great  part  by  the  workingmen  who 
were  not  yet  personally  members  of  the  association, 
but  who  proposed  to  become  so,  and  many  of  whom 
even  consented  to  sustain  it  with  their  money,  with 
out  becoming  members. 

We  see  also  in  the  statutes  of  the  Paris  federa 
tion,  (article  9)  that  "  the  council  can  with  motives 
of  aid,  vote  for  greater  expenses  in  its  budget,  and 
fix  proportionately  the  supplementary  contribution 
of  each  section  ;  but  in  this  case  the  contribution 
remains  purely  optional." 

Finally,  that  which  seems  to  be  the  most  power 
ful  arm  of  the  association,  when  the  question  arises 
of  sustaining  a  strike,  to  which  its  leaders  attach 
great  importance,  is  the  subscriptions. 

A  letter  from  Varlin  to  Aubry,  dated  at  Paris, 

*  "  Write  to  Theisz  for  the  federal  chamber  of  the  workingmen's 
societies,  to  Lombard  for  la  caisse  federative  du  sou,  to  Langevin  for 
the  International."  (Letter  from  Varlin  to  Aubry,  quoted  by 
Theisz  at  the  audience  of  July  2nd,  1870.) 

"  The  strike  of  the  wool- spinners  at  Vienna  is  ended.  La  caisse 
du  sou  voted  them  a  loan  of  1000  francs  ,  of  which  500  were  sent 
together."  (Letter  of  Varlin,  January  9th,  1869.) 

There  is  mention  in  several  other  documents  of  loans,  often  im 
portant,  made  to  the  workingmen  on  strike  by  the  caisse  du  sou. 


96  History  of   the  International, 

January  8th,  1869,  and  quoted  in  the  indictment  at 
the  third  trial,  will  show  us  sufficiently  what  abund 
ant  resources  they  were  to  furnish  to  the  budget  of 
the  International : 

"  When  we  received  your  first  appeal  with  the 
circular,  we  thought  that  the  strike  had  not  great 
importance  as  regards  numbers:  that  the  cotton 
districts  could  nearly  suffice  to  sustain  it  and  that 
you  demanded  our  moral  aid  rather  than  material. 
So  we  content  ourselves  with  opening  a  subscrip 
tion  in  the  book-bindery  and  among  the  friends 
with  whom  we  are  in  daily  relation,  reserving  to 
ourselves  to  make  appeal  to  the  whole  working  pop 
ulation  of  Paris ;  if  the  strike  should  become  gen 
eral,  that  is  to  say,  if  the  manifestations  put  into  ex 
ecution  the  resolution  which  you  describe  in  your 
circular. 

"  You  should  understand  that  the  subscription  is 
a  means  to  be  used,  but  not  abused,  because  then 
it  would  be  exhausted.  Now,  at  Paris,  we  have 
almost  continually  subscriptions  on  hand  in  each 
profession,  either  for  a  comrade  injured  by  an  acci 
dent,  or  to  sustain  a  strike  in  a  similar  profession 
or  with  which  it  is  found  in  almost  permanent  con 
tact,  and  a  strike  must  take  proportions  large 
enough  in  order  to  make  a  general  appeal  with  any 
chance  of  being  heard :  for  example,  the  strike  of 
the  workers  in  bronze,  which  numbered  from  three 
to  four  thousand  workmen,  the  strike  at  Geneva 
which  comprised  ten  professions  at  once. 

"  If  the  strike  of  the  workmen  should  acquire 
greater  extension,  you  can  count  upon  our  mak- 


History  of  the  International.  97 

ing  heroic  efforts  to  sustain  them.  But  until  then, 
we  have  thought  best  to  circulate  our  subscription 
among  ourselves  and  without  noise." 

We  find  there  not  only  the  expose  of  the  theory, 
but  the  most  interesting  details  of  the  practice  of 
the  subscriptions  at  Paris.  This  practice  would 
evidently  vary  infinitely  according  to  more  or  less 
generosity,  greater  or  less  ability  of  the  workmen 
of  each  country,  of  each  city  :  but  it  varies  also  ac 
cording  to  the  usages  and  the  rules  of  each  federa 
tion,  as  is  also  proved  by  the  correspondence  seized 
at  Varlin's  house,  when  the  third  suits  were  directed 
against  the  association. 

Most  of  our  readers  doubtless  remember  the 
strike  of  the  builders  which  broke  out  in  Geneva  in 
the  spring  of  1868.  The  central  committee  of 
Geneva  made  haste  to  write  to  all  the  federations 
to  demand  instantly  subsidies.  The  affair  was 
urgent ;  it  was  considered  of  extreme  importance 
that  it  should  not  undergo,  in  the  first  great  effort 
that  the  association  made  in  Switzerland,  a  check 
which  would  bring  discredit  upon  it  in  that  country. 
One  of  the  secretaries,  Jules  Paillard,  distinctly  de 
clared  to  Varlin  : 

"  Here  we  are  in  the  face  of  three  thousand  work- 
ingmen  without  work,  whose  greatest  crime,  in  the 
eyes  of  these  gentlemen,  is  that  they  belong  to  the 
International  Association,  which  they  have  sworn 
to  destroy,  being  a  foreign  society,  receiving  orders 
from  London,  Paris,  Brussels,  and  who  declare  that 
they  will  do  their  utmost  to  hinder  unanimity 
among  the  workingmen.  The  question  is  of  the 
5 


98  History  of  the  International. 

gravest  character :  it  concerns  the  triumph  of  the 
association  in  our  country  or  its  destruction.  This 
is  why  the  central  committee  make  an  urgent  appeal 
to  the  general  council  of  London,  to  advise  all  the 
sections  of  England,  France,  Belgium,  and  Germany 
to  come  to  the  aid  of  their  brothers 'in  Geneva. 
The  success  of  the  cause  depends  upon  prompt  and 
decisive  action." 

A  delegate  from  Geneva,  named  Graglia,  charged 
to  go  to  London  to  solicit  aid  from  the  English 
branch,  wrote  in  despair  to  Varlin,  April  7th,  "The 
English  societies  are  veritable  fortresses,  and  I 
very,  much  fear  that  we  shall  not  raise  a  sum  large 
enough  to  help  our  compatriots,  this  week.  With 
out  doubt,  I  am  the  first  to  acknowledge  it,  in  some 
weeks  these  same  societies  will  furnish  us  sums 
beyond  our  actual  needs ;  but  as  I  have  made 
several  of  these  gentlemen  understand,  it  is  imme 
diate  help  that  we  must  have.  But  what  can  you 
do  ?  the  laws  forbid  them  in  a  positive  manner.  We 
must  submit." 

While  the  English  workingmen,  as  formal  as 
the  members  of  Parliament,  let  the  question  of 
aid  to  be  accorded  to  strikers  pass  through  all  the 
regulated  forms,  the  French  Internationals  put 
their  hands  in  their  pockets  without  so  much 
formality.  On  the  5th  of  April,  Varlin,  in  the 
name  of  the  Paris  committee,  published  in  L Opin 
ion,  nationale  that  a  subscription,  designed  to  sus 
tain  the  strike  at  Geneva,  was  opened  in  the 
bureaus  of  the  association.  It  made  an  appeal  to 
the  workingmen  of  every  profession  ;  the  lists  cir- 


History  of  the  International.  99 

culated  everywhere,  and  in  fifteen  days  the  work- 
ingmen  of  Paris,  not  only  the  builders,  but  the 
lithographers,  the  printers,  and  the  tinmen,  remitted 
to  the  Paris  committee  sums  which  amounted  to 
more  than  1 0,000  francs. 

Accordingly,  April  Qth,  Graglia  wrote  to  Varlin  : 
"  I  have  just  received  your  letter,  which  has  given 
me  great  pleasure,  for  it  assures  me  once  more  that 
the  sentiment  of  solidarity  is  not  a  vain  word  in 
the  working  population  of  Paris.  Ah  !  my  friend, 
if  we  men  of  the  French  language  have  frivolity  of 
character,  nevertheless  we  cannot  remain  insensible 
and  cold  before  a  necessity  like  that  which  presents 
itself  at  this  time,  while  London,  that  immense 
city,  with  its  million  workingmen,  with  its  formid 
able  societies,  with  its  trade-unions, — very  well  ! 
with  all  that,  with  all  those  advantages  which  in 
our  hands  would  accomplish  such  wonders,  it  lets  a 
society  perish  to  which  itself  gave  birth,  and  that  be 
cause  of  its  selfish  rules  ;  for,  up  to  this  time,  a 
sum  of  500  francs  only  has  been  voted  ;  the  other 
societies  have  told  us  to  wait. 

"  Without  doubt  the  remedy  will  come  when  the 
malady  will  have  ceased  to  exist ;  but  in  the  eyes  of 
the  English,  the  rules  will  have  been  scrupulously 
respected,  and  that  suffices  for  them." 

What  may  be,  on  the  average,  the  amount  of 
the  sums  furnished  by  all  these  assessments,  oblig 
atory  as  well  as  optional  ?  It  is  absolutely  impos 
sible  for  us  to  estimate  it,  even  approximately. 
Only  it  is  certain  that  these  sums,  in  every  case 
very  considerable,  the  great  number  of  members  of 


TOO  History  of   the  International. 

the  society  being  considered,  are  always  insuffi 
cient  on  account  of  the  immense  heeds  caused  by 
the  strikes  which  occur  at  every  moment. 

Everyone  has  read  in  the  journals  of  the  Inter 
national  the  beautiful  sentences  which  the  leaders 
of  the  society  write  for  their  readers,  upon  the 
misfortunes  of  the  proletaries,  reduced  by  the  exi 
gencies  of  infamous,  capital  to  leave  their  work  and 
desert  the  workshops  where  others  profit  by  their 
misery.  <.r 

A  private  letter  from  Varlin,  quoted  at  the  audi 
ence  of  June  22nd,  1870,  in  the  speech  of  the 
imperial  advocate,  shows  that  these  distinguished 
citizens  speak  with  less  emotion  of  these  sufferings 
when  they  have  no  hearers  : 

"  I  tell  you  nothing  of  the  strike  of  the  leather- 
dressers,  which  we  declared  finished  ten  days  ago, 
and  which  leaves  us  four  hundred  men  without 
work,  to  whom  we  cannot  even  give  bread.  Day 
before  yesterday,  they  wished  to  sack  their  former 
workshops  and  chase  the  mogs  who  have  replaced 
them.  Happily  they  were  restrained,  but  we  are 
very  much  annoyed  by  this  affair.  The  strikers  have 
gone  to  find  Rochefort  at  the  Corps  LJgislatif,  no 
longer  knowing  to  whom  to  commend  themselves  ; 
they  have  sent  to  the  bureau  of  La  Marseillaise, 
where  200  francs  have  been  given  them,  which  the 
hungriest  shared  upon  \he  place  des  Victoires" 

Go,  brave  misguided  workingmen,  leave  at  the 
first  command  of  your  leaders,  the  workshop  where 
you  gain  the  bread  for  your  family  by  honest  labor. 
When  the  subscriptions  which  your  comrades  have 


History  of  the  International  101 

furnished  shall  be  exhausted,  when  your  wives  beg 
you  with  tears  for  your  starving  children  a  piece 
of  bread  which  you  cannot  give  them>  the  journal 
ists,  whose  fortune  you  are  making,  may,  perhaps, 
throw  you  by  their  servants  a  meagre  charity,  but 
take  care  not  to  trouble  with  your  complaints  the 
chiefs  who  have  commanded  you  to  leave  off  work. 
You  might  annoy  the  citizen  Varlin! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

• 

THE    CONGRESSES. 

- 
I.     DATES    OF    THE    CONGRESSES. — NAMES     OF     THE 

DELEGATES    WHO    TOOK     PART    IN    THEM. 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  founders  of  the 
International  had  resolved  in  1864  to  hold,  the  fol 
lowing  year,  at  Brussels,  the  first  general  assembly 
of  the  society,  which  would  give  an  actual  existence 
to  it  by  sanctioning  the  provisional  statutes  drawn 
up  in  London.  It  is  well  known  that  this  project 
could  not  be  put  into  execution,  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  delay  a  year  the  convocation  of  the 
first  congress. 

It  was  opened  in  Geneva,  September  3d,  1866, 
in  the  hall  of  the  Treiber  brewery,  Jung,  member 
and  delegate  of  the  general  council  of  London, 
presiding.  The  total  number  of  the  delegates 
amounted  to  sixty. 

Paris  was  represented  by  Murat,  Varlin,  Bour 
don,  Tolain,  Guillard,  Malon,  Perrachon,  Cam&i- 
nat,  Cultin,  Chemal£,  and  Fribourg  ;  Rouen  by 
Aubry ;  and  Lyons  by  Schettel,  Richard,  Secre- 
tan,and  Bondy., 

The  second  congress  was  held  at  Lausanne  in 
1867.  It  was"  opened  September  2d,  in  the  grand 
hall  of  the  Casino,  under  the  presidency  of  Eugene 
Dupont,  secretary  of  the  French  branch  of  the 
general  council  of  London. 


History  of  the  International.  103 

The  Section  of  Paris  was  represented  there  by 
Marly,  Fribourg,  Garbe,  Pioley,  Reymond,  Che- 
mal£,  Murat,  Tolain,  and  de  Beaumont ;  those  of 
Caen  and  Conde-sur-Noireau,  by  Charles  Longuet, 
journalist ;  that  of  Rouen  by  Aubry.  The  other 
French  sections  which  sent  delegates  were  those 
of  Lyons,  Neuville  (Rhone),  Villefranche  (idem), 
Bordeaux,  and  Marseilles. 

There  were  in  all,  for  all  the  countries  of  Europe 
represented  at  this  reunion,  seventy -one'  delegates. 

They  numbered  nearly  a  hundred  the  next  year 
at  Brussels,  where  the  third  congress  met.  It  was 
opened  September  6th,  under  the  presidency  of 
Jung,  of  London,  in  the  hall  of  the  national  the 
ater  du  Clique.  The  last  meeting  took  place  on 
the  1 3th.  Among  the  names  of  the  delegates  we 
notice  those  of  MM.  Tolain,  Murat,  Theisz,  Rous- 
sel,  Pindy,  Flahaut,  and  Henry.  The  latter  is 
designated  as  a  mechanic,  president  of  the  Work- 
ingmen's  Committee  of  the  Exposition  and  sent  by 
the  association  of  faucet-makers.  His  surname  is 
not  given.  We  do  not  know  whether  he  was  one  of 
the  numerous  Henrys  who  under  different  titles  had 
important  commands  in  the  army  of  the  Commune, 

The  fourth  congress  was  held  at  Basle,  in  1869. 
It  was  opened  on  Monday,  September  6th.  Eighty 
delegates  were  present.  Even  America  took  part 
in  it ;  Mr.  Cameron,  sent  by  the  National  Labor 
Union  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  working* 
men's  congress  of  Philadelphia  represented  there, 
it  is  said,  eight  hundred  thousand  laborers  of  the 
new  world. 


IO4  History,   of  the  lnternation(it. 

It  is  probable  enough  that,  among  all  these 
laborers  from  beyond  the  sea,  there  were  some 
thousands  and  even  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
who  were  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  existence  of 
their  representatives  and  the  commission  which  he 
professed  to  have  received  from  them. 

Among  the  representatives  of  the  French  sections 
we  will  mention  Aubry,  of  Rouen,  Varlin,  Roussel, 
Flahaut,  Dereure,  Albert  Richard,  without  forgetting 
the  inevitable  Murat,  Pindy,  Chemal£  and  Tolain. 
A  journalist,  to-day  deputy  of  Paris,  M.  Langlois, 
figured  there  as  delegate  of  the  syndical  chamber 
of  the  metal-turners  of  Paris.  The  oval-makers  of 
Lyons,  who  had  just  made  themselves  notorious 
because  of  their  strike,  sent  a  Russian  Commun 
ist,  M.  Bakounine,  publicist. 

Before  separating,  the  delegates  had  named  the 
first  Monday  of  September  1870,  for  their  next  re 
union.  Paris  was  unanimously  chosen  as  the  place 
of  rendezvous.  The  suits  instituted  in  France 
against  the  International  in  the  first  months  of 
1 870,  would  have  already  inspired  the  general  council 
with  the  idea  of  choosing  another  city  for  the  convo 
cation  of  the  congress,  when  the  declaration  of  war, 
and  the  events  which  followed  rendered  all  reunion 
impossible  in  whatever  place  it  might  be. 

None  of  these  four  congresses  were  the  cause  or 
occasion  of  political  complications  of  real  import 
ance.  We  will  speak  in  another  chapter  of  the 
conferences  which  took  place  in  the  train  of  the 
the  first,  between  the  French  delegates  and  a  min 
ister  of  Napoleon  III,  who  had  not  yet  renounced 


History  of  the  international. 

the  idea  of  gaining  the  International  to  the  cause  of 
the  Empire. 

For  the  present  we  will  only  occupy  ourselves 
with  the  problems  discussed  in  these  four  con 
gresses,  and  the  solutions  which  they  received  there. 

A  "French  positivist"  published  in  London, 
during  the  actual  reign  of  the  Commune,  interest 
ing  political  notes  on  the  present  situation  in 
France.  He  recapitulated  in  a  very  exact  and 
faithful  manner  the  theories  of  the  International, 
which  were,  we  know,  those  of  the  large  majority 
of  the  members  of  the  so-called  Communal  Assem 
bly  installed  at  the  Hotel  de  ville ;  "  Their  philos 
ophy,"  he  said,  "  is  atheism,  materialism,  negation  of 
all  religion  ;  their  political  programme  is  summed 
up  in  absolute  individual  liberty,  obtained  by  the 
suppression  of  all  government,  and  the  division  of 
nationalities  into  communes  more  or  less  federated. 
Their  political  economy  consists  essentially  in  the 
dispossession,  with  compensation,  of  the  capitalists 
and  the  appropriation  of  their  money,  instruments 
of  labor  and  land,  to  the  workingmen's  associations. 
Their  historic  theory  is  that  the  nobility  and  the 
bourgeoisiehws  had  their  time  and  that  of  the  pro 
letarian  has  come.  They  exclude  from  the  society 
all  those  who  are  outside  of  the  laboring  classes." 

The  author  of  these  notes  adds  that  if  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Commune  did  not  publish  this  pro 
gramme,  it  was  because  they  felt  that  their  doc 
trines  were  "  too  strong  even  for  the  revolutionary 
party,"  and  that  "  they  preferred  to  defer  imposing 
them,  until  the  triumph  of  the  insurrection." 

5* 


io6  History  df  the  International. 

All  the  ideas  exposed  *by  the  editor  of  these  po 
litical  notes,  are  actually  those  of  the  International, 
and  are  found  developed  in  the  reports,  discourses, 
and  resolutions  of  the  congresses  in  the  grand  rein 
forcement  of  neologisms  and  of  abstract  formulas 
which  show  some  pretensions  to  Science. 

Their  journals,  particularly  those  which  were 
published  in  Belgium  and  Switzerland,  reproduced 
them  equally  in  every  number  for  several  years, 
but  freeing  them  generally  from  the  pretentious 
dress  with  which  the  pedantry  of  the  fathers  of  the 
demagogic  church  had  surrounded  them,  and  often 
putting  them  in  the  most  violent  and  gross  forms, 

But  these  doctrines  are  not  found  from  the  first, 
developed  in  all  their  ugliness  and  brutality  in  the 
heart  of  that  part  of  the  working  classes  which 
belonged  to  the  International.  Time  was  neces 
sary  in  order  that  the  pure  doctrine  of  popular 
Communism  should  become  disengaged  from  all  the 
formulas  diffused  in  the  different  working  groups  in 
quest  of  one  policy,  one  philosophy,  and  one  political 
economy. 

Moreover,  it  is  a  natural  law  of  all  assemblies 
and  societies,  that  no  idea,  no  passion  can  remain 
always  equal  to  itself,  without  decreasing  or  increas 
ing.  In  every  group  of  men  not  long  united  by  a 
common  bond,  a  certain  force  is  released,  a  certain 
movement  is  manifested,  which  ordinarily  accel 
erates  :  wittingly  or  unwittingly,  each  of  these  or 
ganized  corps,  assemblies,  or  associations,  is  put  on 
the  march  in  a  certain  sense  and  cannot  stop  itself 
in  the  course  upon  which  it  has  entered. 


tJistory  of  the  International. 

Sometimes  the  movement  is  good  and  praise 
worthy,  and  there  are  then  the  bad  who  become 
better  by  contact  with  the  good,  the  stupid  whose 
minds  open  in  a  society  more  intelligent  than  that 
in  which  they  have  at  first  lived,  the  violent  who 
become  calm,  the  fools  who  grow  wise  ;  at  other 
times,  it  is  on  the  contrary,  the  crowd  of  rascals, 
fools,  and  egotists  which  carries  away  the  rest ; 
then  the  sensible  men  are  discouraged,  and  lose 
little  by  little  their  good  sense  ;  the  honest  men 
lose  each  day  a  little  more  of  their  simple  honesty ; 
the  men  who  came  with  minds  clear  and  penetrat 
ing  give  themselves  up  more  and  more  to  phrases, 
to  rhetorical  declamations,  and  end  by  becoming 
incapable  of  distinguishing  the  true  from  the  false  ; 
they  let  themselves  go  slowly,  at  first,  down  a  dis 
astrous  descent ;  the  motion  soon  increases,  and 
they  are  rolled  into  the  abyss. 

The  International  has  not  escaped  from  this  law  ; 
if  we  examine  the  course  which  it  has  run  four  or 
five  years  in  the  path  of  error  and  crime,  we 
become  frightened. 

Only  three  years  elapsed  between  the  first  con* 
gress,  that  of  Geneva,  and  the  last,  that  of  Basle, 
The  difference  between  the  ideas  which  dominated 
in  the  first  and  those  which  triumphed  in  the  last, 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  there  must  have 
been  long  years  to  have  demoralized  to  such  an 
extent  so  numerous  a  mass* 


io8  History  of  the  International. 

II.  THE  CONGRESS  OF  GENEVA  AND  THE  CONGRESS 
OF  LAUSANNE  (l866,  1867).  —  FIRST  ATTACKS 

AGAINST  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  PROPERTY. 

. 

In  the  first  months  of  1866,  the  general  council 
of  London  addressed  to  all  the  sections  a  pro 
gramme  of  the  questions  which  their  delegates 
would  be  invited  to  consider  at  the  congress  of 
Geneva.  ts&lA  :-.:  •:.  ,-rftir** 

The  historic  interest  which  is  attached  to  this 
document,  induces  us  to  reproduce  it  here  literally. 
Here  it  is  as  we  find  it  in  one  of  the  official  pub 
lications  of  the  International : 

"  ist.  Organization  of  the  International  Associa 
tion  ;  its  ends  ;  its  means  of  action. 

£•$&.  Workingmen's  societies, — their  past,  their 
present,  their  future  ;  stoppage  ;  strikes, — means 
of  remedying  them;  primary  and  professional 
instruction.  *  /  srf* 

•'>•#  3d.  .Work  of  women  and  children  in  factories, 
from  a  moral  and  sanitary  point  of  view. 

"4th.  Reduction  of  working  hours,  —  its  end, 
bearing,  moral  consequences;  obligation  of  labor 
for  all. 

"  5th.  Association,^- its  principle,  its  applica 
tions  ;  cooperation  as  distinguished  from  associa 
tion  proper. 

•"6th.  Relations    of  capital  and  labor;    foreign 
competition  ;  treaties  of  commerce. 

"  7th.  Direct  and  indirect  taxes. 

"  8th.  International  institutions ;  mutual  credit, 


History  of  the  International.  109 

paper  money,  weights,  measures,  coin,  and  lan 
guage.. 

"  Qth.  Necessity  of  abolishing  the  Russian  influ 
ence  in  Europe  by  the  application  of  the  principle 
of  the  right  of  the  people  to  arrange  for  themselves, 
and  the  reconstitution  of  Poland  upon  democratic 
and  social  bases. 

"  loth.  Standing  armies  in  their  relations  with 
production. 

"nth.  Religious  ideas, — their  influence  upon 
the  social,  political,  and  intellectual  movement. 

"  1 2th.  Establishment  of  a  society  for  mutual 
help  ;  aid,  moral  and  material,  given  to  the  orphans 
of  the  association." 

We  are  far  from  presenting  this  programme  as 
excellent  in  itself,  and  still  farther  from  approving 
all  the  solutions  given  to  the  problems  which  it 
proposed,  particularly  to  those  whose  terms  we  have 
italicized.  It  should  be,  however,  remarked  that 
the  question  of  property,  which  was  to  take  such  a 
prominent  place  in  the  other  congresses,  was  not 
even  proposed  in  the  first,  at  least  in  a  direct 
manner. 

Besides,  as  for  the  question  of  religious  ideas 
and  their  influence  upon  the  social,  political,  and 
industrial  movement,  although  the  congress  ordered 
the  insertion  in  the  official  report  of  different  opin 
ions,  little  edifying,  expressed  by  a  certain  number 
of  its  members  on  this  subject,  it  refused  to  express 
itself  in  a  formal  manner  against  religions,  and 
passed  to  the  order  of  the  day. 

They  also  had  the  wisdom  not  to  yield  to  the 


ttO  History  of  the  International 

enthusiasts  who  wished  to  press  the  congress  to 
strike  a  blow  at  "  Russian  despotism  in  Europe," 
and  to  implore  the  "  reconstitution  of  Poland  upon 
democratic  and  social  bases." 

The  French  mind,  very  friendly  to  generaliza 
tions,  to  syntheses  and  systems  of  universal  and 
radical  reform,  gains  a  victory  over  the  more  prac 
tical  mind  of  the  English,  always  fixed  upon  ends 
more  modest,  but  possible  to  attain  ;  the  trade-un 
ions  were  blamed  for  occupying  themselves  too 
exclusively  with  immediate  quarrels,  and  they  were 
advised  to  fight  "  against  the  capitalist  system 
itself,  and  to  aim  at  the  great  end,  the  emancipation 
of  the  working  class."  That  truly  was  neither 
good  in  itself,  nor  even  clever  from  the  point  of 
view  at  which  the  members  of  the  congress  placed 
themselves  ;  but  good  sense  had,  in  part,  its  re 
venge  in  the  deliberation  upon  the  cooperative 
societies,  where  some  of  the  most  important  mem 
bers  of  the  assembly  combatted  energetically  the 
idea  expressed  in  advance  of  directing  the  coope 
rative  movement  by  imposing  upon  it  a  single 
from. 

At  the  Congress  of  Lausanne,  although  only  one 
year  had  elapsed  since  the  Congress  of  Geneva 
had  passed  these  comparatively  moderate  resolu 
tions  there  was  already  remarked  a  change  deep 
and  most  to  be  regretted,  in  the  spirit  of  the  deci 
sions  adopted.  Thus  the  cooperative  societies  in 
whom  was  acknowledged,  in  1866,  the  right  of  de 
veloping  themselves  at  will,  were  signalized,  in  1 867, 
as  "  tending  to  constitute  a  fourth  state  having  below 


History  of  the  International.  lit 

it  a  fifth  state  still  more  'miserable."  In  other 
words  the  sentiment  which  prevails  in  this  question, 
is  a  sentiment  of  jealousy  against  the  associated 
workingmen,  who,  thanks  to  their  intelligence, 
labor  and  spirit  of  order,  had  succeeded  in  consti 
tuting  for  their -society  and  for  each  of  its  members, 
a  capital  small  or  large,  which  they  did  not  care  to 
give  up  to  comrades  less  intelligent,  less  industrious, 
and  less  economical.  The  congress,  obedient  to  an 
instinct  of  low  envy  against  those  who  are  guilty 
of  succeeding  by  their  labor,  declares  "  that  social 
transformation  can  only  work  in  a  radical  and  defi 
nite  manner  by  means  acting  upon  the  whole  of  the 
society,  and  conformable  to  reciprocity  and  justice  ; " 
nevertheless,  it  admits  that  the  efforts  of  working- 
men's  associations  must  be  encouraged  "  only  to 
make  disappear  as  much  as  possible  from  the  heart 
of  these  associations,  the  predominance  of  capital  over 
labor,  that  is  to  say,  to  introduce  the  idea  of  mutu 
ality  and  federation,"  which  plainly  signifies  only  to 
make  to  disappear  in  a  given  association  all  differ 
ence  between  those  who  have  already  worked  a  long 
time  and  to  good  purpose,  and  those  who  are  only 
beginning  to  put  themselves  to  work,  only  to  divide 
among  the  associations  where  want  of  discipline, 
disorder  and  idleness  rule,  the  benefits  acquired  by 
those  who  submit  themselves  to  rule,  who  labor  and 


*  The  congress  of  the  Belgian  sections  of  the  International  which 
met  at  Brussels,  in  May,  1869,  retnrns  to  this  question  of  coopera 
tive  societies.  We  extract  from  the  summary  account  published  by 
L?  Internationale,  (May  3Oth,  1869,)  the  following  passage  : 


ttistoty  of  the  International. 

Communism  which  had  not  entered  into  the  first 
congress  or  at  least  had  not  dared  to  speak,  has  al 
ready  a  peremptory  tone  in  the  second.  At  Lau 
sanne  in  fact,  after  having  implored  federation  be 
tween  the  associations,  that  is  to  say,  the  abandon 
ment  to  the  profit  of  the  idle  and  incapable  of  that 
which  the  industrious  and  skilful  workingmen  had 
gained,  it  demands  that  one  should  give  to  the 
"  State  proprietor  the  means  of  transport  and  circu 
lation,  in  order  to  abolish  the  powerful  monopoly  of 
the  large  companies,  which  in  submitting  the  work 
ing  classes  to  their  arbitrary  laws,  attack  both  the 
dignity  of  man  and  individual  liberty." 

However,  it  only  dared  to  declare  war  to  the 
workingrrfen's  societies  and  the  large  companies  ; 
it  had  up  to  this  time  only  claimed  property  in  ap- 

•  .  .  • . 

Hermans.  "  We  wish  societies  of  production  other  than  those 
which  we  see  founded  at  Liege  ;  we  wish  to  reach  a  partial  ameli« 
oration  of  the  laboring  class  and  not  only  of  a  group  of  fifteen  new 
rivals,  new  employers.  We  wish  the  society  of  production  to  be  based 
upon  the  societies  of  resistance  j  they  only  ought  to  be  benefited  and  not 
the  managing  •workingmen."  (This  idea  is  approved  by  several 
speakers.) 

Thus  the  associated  workingmen  will  give  their  time,  their  labor, 
will  pledge  their  names,  all  that  they  possess  (we  do  not  forget  that 
the  moment  that  they  work  in  their  own  name,  on  their  own  ac- 
connt,  a  failure  will  be  to  lose  everything).  If  they  fail,  it  is  they 
personally  who  will  be  ruined.  If  they  succeed,  their  money  will 
serve  to  maintain  the  voluntary  idleness  of  strikers  !  We  can  re 
call,  finally,  on  the  subject,  a  passage  from  an  interesting  article 
in  1850,  in  U  Atelier.  We  shall  see  that  at  this  time  those  of  the  as 
sociations  founded  in  1848  which  had  succeeded,  did  not  care  to 
make,  as  they  were  urged,  common  cause  and  treasury  with  those 
which  were  in  danger  from  the  incapacity  of  the  managers  or  the 
laziness  of  the  associates.  We  quoted  this  article,  chap.  II,  p.  22. 


History  of  the  International. 

pearance  collective.  Individual  property  was  re 
spected  in  the  Congresses  of  1866  and  1867,  or  at 
least  they  had  only  to  repulse  the  attacks  of  the  ad 
vance-guard,  the  incursions  of  some  Uhlans  of 
Communism. 

At  Brussels,  in  1 868,  it  underwent  a  general  as 
sault  which  was  opened  upon  it  by  all  the  united 
forces  of  the  association,  without  excepting  even 
those  who  .believed  in  good  faith  that  they  were 
marching  to  its  defense. 

In  the  sitting  of  the  National  Assembly  of  June 
1 6th,  1871,  where  was  voted  the  nomination  of  a 
committee  charged  with  opening  an  inquiry  into 
the  insurrection  of  March  i8th,  M.  Tolain  under 
took,  we  remember,  the  defense  of  the  Interna 
tional,  of  which  he  even  proposed  to  relate  to  us 
the  whole  history,  if  an  entire  sitting  should  be 
given  to  this  recital.  According  to  him  the  asso 
ciation  passed  through  two  very  different  periods, 
one  which  precedes,  the  other  which  follows  the 
first  suits  directed  against  the  bureau  of  Paris  in 
1 868.  Its  principles  and  its  actions  had  been  abso 
lutely  irreproachable,  until  that  unfortunate  trial, 
which  alone  had  the  sad  power  of  making  it  "  devi 
ate  from  its  line  of  conduct  and  of  commencement." 

The  comparison  we  have  just  made  between  the 
first  and  second  congresses,  both  anterior  to  the 
trials,  proves  sufficiently  that  we  only  see  at  Brus 
sels  the  logical  development  of  principles  in  the 
germ  from  the  foundation  of  the  association  and  of 
passions  which  had  already  shown  their  power  at 
Lausanne  alter  having  only  been  suspected  at 
Geneva. 


1 14  History  of  the  International. 

We  do  not  doubt  the  sincerity  of  M.  Tolain,  but 
since  he  did  not  combat  the  resolutions  voted  in 
1867,  concerning  workingmen's  societies  and  the 
"  means  of  transportation  and  circulation,"  and  had 
a  fair  chance  to  defend  a  year  later,  the  principle  of 
individual  property,  he  is,  whatever  he  says  and 
whatever  he  thinks,  among  the  adversaries  of  pro 
perty,  which  is  in  reality  also  completely  denied 
by  the  mutualists  and  by  the  collectivism. 

III.  THE  CONGRESS  OF  BRUSSELS  (l868). — IT  VOTES 
THE  CONFISCATION  BY  THE  STATE  OF  MINES, 
QUARRIES,  RAILROADS,  FORESTS,  AND  ARABLE 
LANDS.— M.  TOLAIN. 

Before  entering  upon  the  discussion  which, 
without  doubt,  was  nearest  the  heart  of  the  major 
ity  of  its  members,  the  congress  of  Brussels  com 
menced  by  examining  various  other  questions. 

It  recognized  the  legitimacy  and  the  necessity 
of  strikes  in  the  actual  state  of  war  between  capi 
tal  and  labor ;  declared  that  there  was  the  place  "  to 
submit  them  to  certain  rules,  to  conditions  of  organ 
ization  and  opportunity  ;"  and  decided  upon  the 
creation  of  councils  of  arbitration,  charged  with 
superintending  the  application  of  these  rules.  It 
declared  also  "  that  machines,  like  all  other  instru 
ments  of  labor,  ought  to  belong  to  the  laborers 
themselves  and  avail  to  their  profit ;"  and  it  decided 
to  communicate  to  all  the  sections,  in  order  that 
they  might  study  with  great  care,  a  draught  of 
rules  "  for  the  creation  of  a  bank  of  exchange  at 
the  cost  price." 


History  of  tht International  115 

But  the  most  important  of  the '  questions  which 
it  considered,  that  which  gave  rise  to  the  longest 
discussions,  and  in  which  the  foolish -ideas,  absurd 
prejudices,  and  envious  passions  had  the  fullest 
scope,  was  that  of  property. 

In  the  sixteenth  sitting,  Murat  read  the  conclu 
sions  adopted  in  the  administrative  sitting, — that  is 
to  say,  in  secret  committee.  It  is  all  a  theory  of 
property,  or  ratfter,  a  code  of  universal  confisca 
tion. 

According  to  these  profound  reformers,  "  the 
quarries,  coal  and  other  mines,  as  well  as  the  rail 
roads,  should  belong  to  the  social  collectivity,  rep- 
*resented  by  the  state,  but  by  the  state  regenerated," 
which  would  give  them  "  not  to  the  capitalists,  as 
at  present,  but  to  the  workingmen's  societies." 

The  economic  evolution  (to  use  the  euphemism  of 
of  these  gentlemen),  should  make  "the  admission 
of  arable  land  to  the  collective  property  a  social 
necessity,"  and  "  the  land  should  be  given  to  agri 
cultural  companies,  as  the  mines  to  mining  compa 
nies,  the  railroads  to  workingmen's  companies." 

Finally,  the  canals,  roads,  telegraphic  lines,  and 
forests,  should  "  remain  as  the  collective  property 
of  the  society." 

These  radical  measures  are  accompanied  by  a 
mass  of  considerations,  in  which  absurdity  and 
violence  seek  to  hide  themselves  as  well  as  they 
can  behind  a  vast  array  of  grand  words,  apparently 
scientific, 

Would  it  not  be  more  simple  to  spare  themselves 
the  trouble  of  collecting  all  these  fine  terms  of 


It 6  History  of  the  International. 

economic  evolution,  social  collectivity,  scientific  and 
rational  farming,  and  to  acknowledge  simply  that 
they  wished  to  take  all  the  good  things  of  this 
world  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  wanted  them, 
that  they  thought  themselves  strong  enough  to 
secure  them  ?  This  would  be  shorter  and  more  frank 

Of  the  forty-nine  delegates  present  at  the  time 
of  voting  on  these  fine  conclusions,  thirty  voted 
for  their  adoption,  only  four  opposed  them,  and 
fifteen  abstained  from  voting. 

M.  Tolain  explained  this  abstaining  by  reading 
the  following  declaration : 

"  Considering  that,  according  to  us,  the  question 
of  property  was  only  made  the  order  of  the  day  at 
the  last  sitting ;  that  it  has  only  been  studied  from 
a  general  point  of  view,  in  an  altogether  insignifi 
cant  manner  ;  from  an  agricultural  point  of  view  in 
an  incomplete  manner  ;  that  in  view  of  the  affirma 
tion  of  a  certain  number  of  delegates,  who  say 
they  are  not  informed  on  the  subject,  it  was  natu 
ral  to  defer  the  question  to  the  next  congress ; 

"  The  delegates  whose  names  follow,  who  have 
abstained  and  who  have  voted  against  it,  decline 
thus  the  responsibility  of  the  vote."  (The  signa 
tures  follow.) 

It  is  upon  this  declaration  that  M.  Tolain 
strengthened  himself  to  say,  March  1 6th,  at  the 
National  Assembly  that  "  the  founders  of  the  In 
ternational,  in  their  programme,  in  the  memorial 
which  they  published,  had  from  a  social  point  of 
view,  defended  individual  property." 

We  do  not  doubt  the  perfect  good  faith  of  M. 


History  of  the  International.  117 

Tolain.  We  doubt  it  so  much  the  less,  as,  in 
the  official  account  rendered  of  the  I4th  sitting  of 
the  congress  of  Brussels,  we  read  a  discourse  in 
which  the  citizen  Coenen,  of  Antwerp,  is  aston 
ished  "  that  certain  members  of  the  International 
rise  up  so  strongly  against  Communism,"  and  de 
clares  that  "  associate  Tolain  is  in  error  when  he 
regards  individual  property  in  the  soil  as  a  condi 
tion  of  individual  liberty." 

But  if  M.  Tolain  is  authorized  in  imagining  that 
he  was  a  veritable  defender  of  property  at  Brussels, 
one  of  his  opponents  in  the  same  congress,  the 
Belgian  Communist  De  Paepe,  was  evidently 
truthful  and  logical  when  he  replied  : 

"We  only  endeavor  to  extend  to  agricultural 
property  that  which  M.  Tolain  and  the  other 
enemies  of  the  collective  property  of  land,  admit 
to  be  very  good  for  mines,  railroads,  roads,  canals, 
etc.  ;  there  are  no  absolute  partizans  of  individual 
property  here  ;  we  are  all  more  or  less  Communists, 
if  so  be  that  the  considerations  of  the  committee 
can  be  regarded  as  Communism.  In  fact,  we  do 
not  ask  that  the  state  should  become  farmer  or  hire 
working  farmers,  any  more  than  they  ask  that  the 
state  should  become  miner  and  hire  miners,  but  we 
wish  that  the  land  should  be  conceded  to  large 
farming  companies,  as  the  mines,  railroads,  etc.,  to 
large  working  companies.  Why  deal  differently 
with  the  mine,  or  the  field  below  ground,  and  the 
field  properly  so-called,  which  js  only  a  mine  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  a  mine  from  which  are 
extracted  vegetables  in  place  of  stones,  marble, 


Ii8  History  of  the  International. 

minerals,  and  coal?  We  believe  ourselves  more 
logical  than  our  opponents  ;  the  land,  as  what  is 
beneath  the  land,  being  both  given  gratuitously  to 
humanity  by  nature,  we  claim  property  in  it  for  all 
humanity,  and  we  demand  the  farming  of  it  by  the 
associations." 

It  is  incontestable  that  M.  de  Paepe  and  the  Com 
munists  have  logic  on  their  side  of  the  discussion 
with  the  Mutualists  ;  but  do  we  still  wish  to  see 
what  securities  the  opinions  defended  by  M.  Tolain 
offer  to  the  society,  and  to  judge  if  he  has  the 
right  to  call  himself  the  defender  of  individual  pro 
perty  ? 

We  have  only  to  open  the  report  rendered  of  the 
Congress  of  Basle,  published  by  M.  Mollin,  "dele 
gate  of  the  Paris  circle  of  proletarian  positivists." 

IV.     CONGRESS     OF     BASLE     (1869). ABOLITION     OF 

PROPERTY. — M.  TOLAIN  AGAIN. — MUTUALISTS  AND 

COLLECTIVISTS. DISCUSSION     UPON     THE     RIGHT 

OF    INHERITANCE. — SOCIAL    ADJUSTMENT. 

In  a  sitting  of  the  Congress  of  Basle,  a  delegate, 
named  Robin,  asserted  in  a  speech  in  favor  of  Col 
lectivism,  that  is  to  say  of  Communism,  that  the  peas 
ants  are  not  at  all  hostile  as  the  Individualists  sup 
pose  ;  immediately,  M.  Tolain,  who  marked  this  last 
term,  hastened  to  declare  "  that  he  regarded  this  dis 
tinction  as  an  injury  and  a  calumny,  and  said  that 
he  and  his  friends  were  MutualistsT* 

Now,  without  taking  the  trouble  to  ascertain  the 


*  Report  of  the  Congress  of  Basle,  by  G.  Mollin,  p.  20. 

.      •        ' 


History  of  the  International.  119 

exact  meaning  of  this  new  word  Mutualist,  which 
reappears  so  often  for  some  months  in  the  discus 
sions  between  socialists,  we  find  even  in  the  report 
of  M.  Mollin,  the  system  proposed  by  this  school 
the  pretended  friend  of  individual  property. 

It  was  M.  Tolain  in  person  who,  Friday,  Septem 
ber  loth,  proposed  to  the  Congress  of  Basle  to  de 
clare  that  "  in  order  to  realize  the  emancipation  of 
laborers,"  it  was  necessary  to  transform  the  leases, 
rents,  salaries,  in  a  word,  all  the  contracts  of  rent 
into  contracts  of  sale  ;  that  then  property  being 
continually  in  circulation  would  cease  to  be  abusive 
by  this  very  fact. 

Now  the  preceding  discussions  sufficiently  show 
what  the  mutualist  school  means  by  the  transforma 
tions  of  contracts  of  rent  into  contracts  of  sale.  It 
is  simply  an  application  of  the  theory  dear  to  the 
whole  International,  which  condemns  the  interest 
on  capital.  According  to  the  system  of  M.  Tolain 
and  his  friends,  all  interest  or  rent  payed  for  a  sum 
of  money  due,  or  for  a  house  or  land  taken  on  hire, 
should  be  applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  capital  to 
be  reimbursed,  or  of  the  payment  of  the  real  estate 
occupied.  So  that,  if  I  had  borrowed  1000  francs, 
and  I  pay  each  year  $o  francs  to  my  creditor,  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years,  I  should  have  reimbursed  him, 
and  he  would  have  nothing  more  to  claim  from  me  ; 
if  I  occupy  a  house  worth  1 00,000  francs,  and  I  pay 
each  year  5,000  francs  to  the  proprietor,  at  the  end 
of  five  years  I  should  have  acquired  a  quarter  of 
this  real  estate,  half  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  and 
the  whole  in  twenty  years,  arid  I  should  have  be 
come  sole  and  legitimate  proprietor. 


12O  History  of  the  International. 

Such  is  the  theory  spread  through  the  world, 
especially  by  P.-J.  Proudhon,  inventor  of  the  cele 
brated  formula  :  property  is  robbery,  and  adopted  by 
the  honorable  deputy  from  Paris  who  naively  con 
siders  himself  a  defender  of  property. 

Consider  for  a  moment  whether  he  was  its 
enemy ! 

Let  us  add  that  M.  Tolain  affirmed  that  his  ideas, 
so  favorable,  according  to  him,  to  individual  pro 
perty,  were  shared  by  an  "  immense  majority  of  the 
workingmen  of  Paris,"  and  that  "  at  Rouen  equally, 
in  other  cities,  everywhere,  they  adhered  to  this 
memorial  which  defended  individual  property  and 
the  transmission  of  heritage,  and  which  acknowl 
edged  the  family  as  the  end  of  Society." 

We  are  sure  that  M.  Tolain  did  not  seek  to  abuse 
the  good  faith  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Assembly, 
but  we  ought  to  state  either  that  he  deceived  him 
self  or  that  the  ideas  of  the  workingmen  of  Rouen, 
which  were  already  little  encouraging  in  1868,  if 
they  were  those  of  the  Mutualists,  were  very  like  in 
1869  those  of  the  Collectivists,  since  that  year,  at 
the  Congress  of  Basle,  M.  Aubry,  who  since  the 
foundation  of  the  International  was  by  right  of  con 
quest  or  of  birth  the  accredited  and  official  repre 
sentative  of  the  workingmen  of  the  capital  of  the 
Lower  Seine,  demanded  that  "  landed  property 
should  become  collective  and  be  regulated  by  the 
communes  organized  federatively."  He  had  more 
over  taken  great  care  to  place  in  the  conclusions 
which  he  had  read  in  congress,  a  paragraph  declar 
ing  that  it  was  not  he  personally,  but  "  the  circle  of 


History  of   the  International.  121 

of  economic  studies  of  the  arrondissement  of  Rouen, 
composed  of  all  the  workingmen's  corporations  of 
said  arrondissement"  which  considered  the  property 
of  the  soil  "only  from  a  collective  point  of  view." 

We  see  what  the  assertions  of  M.  Tolain  are 
worth  when  he  seeks  to  encourage  us  concerning  the 
ideas  and  tendencies  of  the  society  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  founders. 

Thus,  in  fact,  the  unanimity  of  the  Congress  of 
Basle  was  attained  by  the  suppression  of  property 
such  as  had  always  existed  in  every  civilized  nation, 
and  the  delegates  all  agreeing  to  condemn  these  un 
fortunate  proprietors,  were  divided  only  upon  the 
question  of  whether  they  must  be  eaten  with  mutu- 
alist  or  collectivist  sauce. 

The  mines,  quarries,  railroads,  lands,  forests, 
houses,  manufactories,  machines/and  tools  of  labor, 
once  confiscated  under  one  or  other  of  these  two 
rival  forms,  and  capital,  to  which  besides  was  not 
left  any  means  of  its  creation,  condemned  to  return 
no  interest  in  any  form,  it  seems  that  the  question 
of  inheritance  has  no  longer  a  very  great  practical 
utility,  as  was  remarked,  with  reason,  by  ar  French 
delegate,  M.  Chemale*. 

However,  the  Congress  of  Basle  saw  fit  to  lose 
several  hours  in  discussing  it. 

M.  Eccarius  was  of  the  opinion  that  in  waiting 
for  the  realization  of  collective  property,  which  will 
solve  the  question  of  inheritance,  it  would  '•  be 
necessary  to  adopt  transient  measures  consisting 
in  claiming  a  considerable  rise  in  the  taxes  on 
succession  and  the  application  of  the  larger 

6 


122  History  of  the  International, 

amount  of  the  tax  thus  produced,  to  social  amelior 
ations." 

More  pressed  at  the  end,  the  committee  demanded 
of  the  congress  to  recognize  that  "  the  right  of  in 
heritance  should  be  completely  and  radically  abol 
ished,  and  that  this  abolition  is  one  of  the  indispens 
able  conditions  of  the  enfranchisement  of  labor." 

A  Belgian,  whom  the  bourgeoisie  of  Brussels, 
without  doubt,  little  cared  to  see  at  the  head  of  a 
provisional  government  if  Belgium  should  ever 
sustain  a  revolution,  M.  de  Paepe,  was  of  the  opin 
ion  that  "  inheritance  in  a  direct  line,  freed  from  its 
abuses,  is  an  excellent  element  of  progress  for 
humanity,  and  should  be  maintained  as  encouraging 
economy  and  family  feeling ;"  but  he  did  not  be 
lieve  in  the  efficacy  of  the  abolition  of  inheritance 
in  the  adjustment  of  society.  He  no  longer  ex 
pected  "  amicable  adjustment  in  accordance  with 
the  sentiments  which  the  bourgeois  society  professed 
in  respect  to  the  workingmen." 

Finally,  the  delegate  of  the  oval-makers-  of 
Lyons,  Bakounine,  the  Russian  nihilist,  expressed 
himself  clearly  against  the  right  of  inheritance  : 
"  He  is  willing,"  says  M.  Mollin,  "  that  the  clothes 
of  the  parents  be  transmitted  to  the  children,  but 
that  is  all." 

It  appears  that  this  all  did  not  seem  sufficient 
to  those  delegates  who  had  children,  and  some 
other  trifles  than  a  blouse  to  leave  them,  for  against 
thirty-two  voices  which  spoke  in  favor  of  the  aboli 
tion  of  inheritance,  there  were  twenty-three  voices 
which  demanded  its  maintenance,  and  seventeen 


History  of   the  International.  123 

delegates  who  were  silent,  not  daring,  doubtless, 
either  to  vote  resolutions  absolutely  contrary  to 
sentiments  the  most  deeply  rooted  in  the  human 
heart,  nor  to  unite  with  the  bourgeois  reaction  in 
opposing  them. 

An  amendment  proposed  by  the  tailor  Eccarius, 
born  member  of  the  general  council,  which  con 
sisted  in  limiting  on  one  side  the  right  of  making 
wills,  and  increasing  on  the  other  side  the  taxes  on 
succession  in  direct  inheritance,  was  immediately 
rejected  by  a  very  large  majority  ;  thus,  no  conclu 
sion  was  given  to  this  discussion. 

We  have  met  in  the  resume  of  the  speech  of 
M.  de  Paepe,  with  an  expression  which  had  already, 
for  one  or  two  years,  made  much  noise  in  the  Red 
clubs  of  Paris,  social  adjustment. 

The  chief  of  the  Belgian  Communists  was  not 
the  only  one  who  used  it,  and  Bakounine  employed 
it  also  on  his  side,  in  giving  this  comment,  which 
we  advise  our  readers  to  read  with  care  :  "  I  under 
stand  by  social  adjustment,  the  expropriation  by 
law  of  all  actual  proprietors,  by  the  abolition  of  the 
political  and  juridical  state,  which  is  the  sanction 
and  the  only  'guaranty  of  actual  property  and  of 
everything  that  is  called  juridical  law  ;  and  the 
expropriation,  in  fact,  everywhere  and  as  far  as 
possible,  and  as  soon  as  possible,  by  the  very  force 
of  events  and  circumstances." 

This  is  what  was  thought,  what  was  said  in  1869 
at  Basle,  only  three  years  after  the  congress  of 
Geneva.  Our  readers  have  been  able  to  follow  the 
gradation  of  ideas  and  of  language,  and  see  with 


124  History  of  the  International. 

what  rapidity  the  wave  of  malignant  passions  and 
the  level  of  general  madness  rose  in  the  Interna 
tional.  What  would  these  men  have  said,  if  they 
had  been  able,  according  to  their  first  plan,  to  unite 
at  Paris  in  1870? 

It  is  easy  to  imagine,  for,  if  the  congress  did  not 
take  place,  the  programme  at  least  was  published,* 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  questions  were  pro 
posed  suffices  to  show  in  what  sense  they  would 
have  been  solved  : 

The  first  was  thus  conceived  :  The  necessity  of 
abolishing  the  public  debt.  Discussion  upon  the  right 
of  according  indemnity. 

The  third  was  relative  to  the  practical  means  of 
converting  landed  property  into  social  property. 

The  fifth  treated  of  the  conditions  of  cooperative 
production  upon  a  national  scale. 

Finally,  the  Belgian  general  council  proposed  in 
its  own  name,  as  an  addtional  question,  the  search 
for  practical  means  to  be  employed  in  order  to  con 
stitute  agricultural  sections  in  the  heart  of  the  Inter 
national. 

Thus  :  Abolition  of  the  public  debt,  the  most 
prompt  confiscation  possible  of  territorial  property, 
suppression  of  the  workingmen's  societies  which  had 
succeeded  in  developing  themselves  and  prospering, 
thanks  to  their  energy  and  spirit  of  order,  and  in  the 
meantime,  active  proselyting  in  order  to  immedi 
ately  diffuse  through  the  country  the  gangrene 
with  which  the  cities  were  already  infected. 


*  Especially  in  VggaliteQi  August  6th,  1870. 


History  of   the  international.  125 

These  are  the  resolutions  which  would  have  cer 
tainly  been  adopted  by  the  congress  of  1870,  if 
events  had  not  rendered  reunion  impossible. 

Let  us  add,  moreover,  that  this  congress  was  in 
reality  only  delayed  some  months.  It  was  origi 
nally  to  have  met  at  Paris,  in  September,  1870.  It 
was  opened  there  in  March,  1871,  at  the  Hotel  de 
mile,  taking  this  time  the  name  of  the  Commune 
of  Paris.  It  deliberated  during  the  last  days  of 
March,  all  of  April,  and  the  first  twenty  days  of 
May. 

It  put,  as  well  as  it  could,  these  theories  in  prac 
tice  from  the  23d  to  the  28th  of  May,  and  it  con 
soled  itself  for  not  being  able  to  confiscate  all  the 
houses  of  Paris,  by  destroy  ing"  a  great  number  of 
them. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
JOURNALS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL. 

THEIR  NUMBER. — HOW  THEY  SPEAK  OF  THE  BOUR 
GEOISIE,  THE  ARMY,  THE  MAGISTRACY,  AND  THE 
CLERGY. 

We  have  said  that  the  doctrines  sustained  in  the 
congresses,  most  of  the  time,  by  the  speakers  and 
reporters  who  have  great  scientific  pretensions  and 
pedantic  manners,  were  afterwards  reproduced,  de 
veloped  and  commented  upon,  all  through  the  year 
by  the  organs  of  the  association,  in  a  style  more 
accessible  to  the  uninitiated. 

M.  Testut  gives  a  list  of  twenty-nine  journals 
which  serve  as  organs  to  the  International  on  the 
European  continent. 

Seven  of  these  sheets  are  written  in  French, 
but  none  are  printed  in  France  ;  all  are  published 
either  in  Belgium  or  Switzerland;  one  of  those 
which  appeared  in  Geneva,  La  Cause  du  Peuple, 
although  written  in  French,  is  the  organ  of  the 
Russian  section  of  the  International. 

The  others  are  : 

La  Refonne  sociale,  printed  in  Brussels,  but  edited 
by  Aubry  of  Rouen,  and  written  especially  in  view 
of  the  Normandy  Socialists. 

L  Internationale y  which  appeared  every  Saturday 
at  Brussels,  since  January  i6th,  1869. 

Le  Devoir^  organ  of  the  Section  of  Liege,  issued 
every  Sunday, 


History  of  the  International.  127 

Le  Mirabeau,  organ  of  the  Sections  of  the  Valley 
of  the  Vesdre,  issued  every  Sunday  at  Venders. 

LEgalite,  journal  of  the  International  Associa 
tion  of  Workingmen  of  Switzerland,  issued  at 
Geneva  on  Saturdays,  since  January  3rd,  1869.  It 
succeeded  to  La  Voix  de  Vavenir.  It  was,  during 
the  first  three  months  of  its  existence,  the  official 
organ  of  the  Sections,  of  Switzerland.  For  more 
than  a  year  it  has  only  appeared  at  long  and  very 
irregular  intervals. 

La  Solidarity  organ  of  the  Sections  of  the  Swiss 
Federation  of  the  International  Association,  pub 
lished  at  Neuchatel  since  April  nth,  1870. 

The  association  possesses  only  one  journal  in 
Italy,  it  is  La  Fratellanza  (The  Fraternity),  organ 
of  the  Naples  Section.  It  appears  since  June, 
1869. 

It  possesses,  on  the  contrary,  six  which  are 
edited  in  Spain.  Two  of  them  come  out  in  Cata- 
logne :  another  is  published  at  Palma  (Balearic 
Isles),  the  other  three  are  printed  at  Madrid. 

All  the  rest  are.  written  in  Flemish,  Dutch  and 
German.  At  New  York  the  association  possesses 
a  journal  edited  in  German.  We  do  not  know  ex 
actly  how  many  it  has  in  England,  nor  even 
whether  it  has  in  Great  Britain  journals  which  en 
tirely  belong  to  it. 

In  France,  it  has  possessed  some  months  La  Mar* 
seillaise,  of  which  it  was,  as  we  shall  see  in  another 
chapter,  almost  absolute  mistress.  A  great  num 
ber  of  demagogic  sheets,  which  appeared  in  the 
last  days  of  the  Empire  or  after  September  4th, 


1 28  History  of  the  International. 

were  entirely  at  its  disposal ;  but  we  do  riot 
believe  any  of  these  had  been  officially  recognized 
as  its  organ. 

Let  us  see  now  how  those  of  the  sheets  which 
are  published  in  French  speak. 

In  April,  1869,  in  consequence  of  a  strike  which 
burst  out  in  Seraing,  in  Belgium,  there  were  pro 
duced  disorders  grave  enough  to  necessitate  the  in 
tervention  of  the  troops.  They  were  constrained 
to  make  use  of  their  arms,  and  many  of  the  dis 
turbers  were  struck. 

In  the  number  of  April  25th,  1869,  Llnttma- 
tionale  publishes  on  this  subject  an  article  entitled  : 
A  Bourgeois  Conspiracy. 

"  Formerly,"  says  the  author  of  this  article, 
"  there  were  peoples  who  conspired  against  their 
tyrants.  To-day,  the  case  is  altered ;  since  the 
men  of  the  people  no  longer  conspire,  but  display 
in  broad  day -light  their  plans  of  proletariat  assem 
blies,  their  ways  and  means,  their  programme  and 
their  method,  it  is  the  despots  which  conspire 
against  the  people.  &^.^ 

"  Under  whatever  political  regime  we  live,  repub 
lic  or  monarchial,  the  despot  pat  excellence  in  actual 
society,  is  capital,  or  to  be  more  explicit,  the  cap 
italist  class,  the  bourgeoisie.  All  our  rulers,  whatever 
they  are,  emperors,  constitutional  kings,  presidents 
of  a  republic,  no  longer  draw  their  power,  as  for 
merly,  from  themselves,  but  from  the  privileged 
cla^s,  of  which  they  are  the  representatives,  from 
the  capital  of  which  they  are  the  incarnation. 

"  We  have  just  been  present,  in  Belgium,  at  one 


History  of  the  International.  129 

of  these  vast  conspiracies  contrived  by  the  bour 
geois  despots  against  the  popular  masses." 

The  journalist  then  explains  to  his  readers  that 
the  bourgeoisie,  frightened  at  the  ever  growing  suc 
cess  of  the  International,  seeks  a  pretext  for  sup 
pressing  this  society  which  has  become  too  strong. 
It  exerts  itself  to  irritate,  by  every  means,  the  work- 
ingmen  whom  it  wishes  to  force  into  a  strike,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  represent  this  strike  as  a  revolt, 
to  arrest  some  of  the  associates  and  irritate  the 
others. 

"  No  sooner  said  than  done.  A  manufactory  of 
which  persons  of  high  rank  were  the  principal 
shareholders,  gave  the  signal  for  the  annoyances  ; 
strikes,  violence,  stones  thrown  at  our  brave  sol 
diers,  firing,  massacres,  carnage,  the  abomination  of 
desolation,  it  is  the  International  which  is  the  cause 
of  all. 

"  This  is  the  origin  of  that  fearful  comedy  with 
tragic  acts,  which  was  opened  last  week  and  un 
folded  before  our  eyes,  and  of  which  the  proletary 
soldiers  and  the  proletary  workingmen,  were  the 
actors,  the  bourgeois  the  manager,  the  banks  of  the 
Meuse  and  the  plains  of  Borinage  the  theatre,  but 
of  which  the  public  will  not  be  the  dupe. 

"  What  interest  do  you  ask  has  the  International 
in  seeing  these  mobs  ?  Is  it  because  that  it  wished 
that  the  strikes  should  succeed  and  attain  their  end  ? 
But  the  mob  is  precisely  the  means  of  frustrating 
them.  Is  it  because  that  it  aims  at  a  revolution, 
not  of  form  like  that  of  our  people  in  1830,  but  of 
substance,  that  is  to  say  having  for  object  the  aboli- 
6* 


ffistory  of  the  Internationa^ 

tion  of  individual  landed  property,  the  domination 
of  labor  over  capital,  the  abolition  of  salaries,  inte 
gral  instruction  ?  But  mobs  only  spend  in  vain  an 
energy  and  forces  which  should  only  be  put  in  play 
for  the  great  day  of  social  adjustment. 

"  The  bourgeoisie  alone  can  have  interest  in  the 
uprisings  of  proletaries,  because  that  gives  it  occa 
sion  for  crushing  its  slaves,  for  terrifying  them,  for 
preventing  the  socialist  movement.  Now,  ille  fecit 
cui  prodest  (he  committed  the  crime  who  was  inter 
ested  in  its  commission).  By  virtue  of  this  princi 
ple  of  law,  we  demand  the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of 
our  bourgeoisie,  that  is  to  say  of  our  great  manufac 
turers,  of  our  large  speculators  and  bankers,  of  our 
great  merchants,  of  our  rich  capitalists,  of  our  large 
landowners,  and  of  their  official  representatives,  and 
that  our  companions  who  have  been  locked  up  should 
be  released  ;  it  must  be  that  justice,  if  it  is  worthy  of 
that  august  name,  shall  reach  at  last  the  great  and 
only  culprits !  it  must  be  that  the  blood  of  the  mar 
tyrs  of  Seraing  and  of  Frameries  shall  be  upon  the 
heads  of  those  whose  caused  it  to  flow." 

In  another  article  upon  the  same  events,  L Inter 
nationale,  seeking  to  clear  up  the  "  morality  of  the 
affair  of  Seraing/'  draws  this  conclusion,  among 
many  others  : 

"  The  soldier  and  the  gendarme,  as  soon  as  they 
have  put  on  their  uniform  and  are  loosed,  become 
wild  beasts ;  in  consequence,  whatever  may  be  the 
civilization  of  a  country,  its  liberty  will  be  compro 
mised  as  long  as  there  is  an  army.  There  are  no 
intelligent  bayonets.  Still  less  can  the  intelli- 


History  of  the  International.  131 

gence  of  the  officers  be  counted  upon.  These 
unfortunates,  brutalized  by  idleness  and  the  vices 
which  it  engenders,  are  incapable  of  any  honest 
sentiment.  When  we  disband  the  army,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  subject  these  gentlemen  to  a  long 
hygienic  and  moral  treatment  before  they  can  be 
made  workingmen. 

"  In  the  meantime,  we  implore  fathers  of  fami 
lies  not  to  let  their  children  adopt  this  profes 
sion,  which  leads  to  debauchery  and  murder." 

M.  Testut  has  taken  from  different  journals  of 
the  International  "passages  still  more  violent,  much 
more  odious  than  those  which  we  have  just  quoted, 

Let  us  see  first  how  the  bourgeois,  those  idlers, 
who  acquire,  as  everyone  knows,  their  fortune  by 
folding  their  arms,  are  treated  by  the  organs  of  the 
workingmen : 

"  The  bourgeois  are  afraid;  fear  makes  them  cry 
out ;  seeing  this  formidable  power  which  is  organ^ 
ized  under  their  noses  and  their  beards,  and  which 
must  swallow  them  up  some  day,  they  no  longer 
know  which  way  to  turn.  They  see  the  privileges 
of  capital  disappear  ;  may  they  die  a  natural  death. 
Amen." — (Extract  from  the  journal  LEgalitt,  Jan 
uary  23d,  1869.) 

If  they  do  not  decide  to  hearken  to  this  chari 
table  wish,  what  future  is  reserved  for  them  in  the1 
republic  of  the  International  ?  It  is  that  which 
LEgalitt  of  November  27th  wishes  to  teach  us  : 

"  When  social  revolution  shall  have  dispossessed 
the  bourgeois  of  their  property  for  reason  of  public 
utility,  as  they  have  already  dispossessed  the 


132  History  of  the' International. 

nobility    and   the"  clergy,  'what "  will    become    of 
them  ? 

"  We  cannot  answer  certainly,  but  it  is  probable 
that  the  new  order  of  things  will  give  them,  accord 
ing  to  the  expression  of  one  of  our  friends,  a  good, 
infinitely  more  precious,  of  labor  well  paid,  at  dis 
cretion,  so  that  they  may  no  longer  be  obliged  to 
live  by  the  labor  of  others,  as  they  have  done 
until  now.  In  case  of  incapacity  for  labor  on  their 
part,  which  will  be  the  case  with  a  large  number, 
seeing  that  they  have  learned  but  little  how  to  use 
their  ten  fingers,  well !  well !  we  will  give  them  tJie 
best  of  soup. 

"  But  that  is  too  little,  the  bourgeois  will  howl. 

"  Too  little,  the  workingmen  will  respond,  too 
little !  work  well  paid,  at  discretion,  and  soup  for 
the  invalids !  By  Jupiter !  you  are  difficult ;  we 
would  be  very  well  contented  with  it  in  time." 

The  bourgeois,  who  would  be  disposed  to  find 
LEgalite  rather  severe  for  them,  will,  on  the  con 
trary,  be  pleased  with  its  comparative  benevolence 
when  they  see  what  treatment  L  Internationale  (of 
April  3d,  1870)  prepares  for  them  : 

"  It  is  related  that  Tomyris,  queen  of  the  Massa- 
getes,  attacked  by  Cyrus,  the  insatiable  warrior, 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  her  son  in  a  battle.  She 
swore  to  avenge  him  and  succeeded  in  seizing  the 
bandit-conqueror.  She  had  his  head  cut  off,  and 
throwing  it  into  a  pailful  of  water,  cried  :  '  Well, 
monster,  fill  yourself  with  blood,  since  you  are  so  fond 
of  it: 

"  Ah  !  gentlemen  bourgeois,  you  shoot  the  work- 


History  of  the  International.  133 

ingmen  who  dare  to  rise  against  their  spoilers  ; 
you,  also,  like  to  pour  out  blood.  Well:  we  will 
thrust  your  nose  into  it  and  will  make  you  lick  up 
even  the  last  drop." 

The  magistracy  is  not  better  treated  than  the 
bourgeoisie.  Listen  rather  to  what  L  Internationale 
of  December  I2th,  1869,  says  of  it : 

"  For  a  long  time  it  is  known  by  whom  it  is  held 
concerning  the  morality  of  magistracies,  that  invio 
lability  no  more  defends  from  corruption  than  a  glass 
cover  defends  our  noses  from  the  odors  of  cheese.  The 
French  magistracy  is  totally  cormpt.  The  Belgian 
magistracy  is  so  much  advanced  that  it  marches  all 
alone.  The  German  magistracy  is  equal  to  its  two 
sisters,  and  a  trio  of  Eumenides  has  replaced 
in  these  three  countries  the  divine  Astrea  whom 
the  ancients  said  ascended  into  heaven. 

"The  citizen  Bonhorts,  of  Magdebourg,  after 
twenty-eight  days  of  accusation,  has  just  appeared 
before  that  bundle  of  scamps  called  judges. 

The  judges  are  unmovable  and  inviolable,  it  is 
true,  but  in  spite  of  that,  they  can  be,  some  day, 
suspended  .  .  .  by  a  rope." 

We  know  enough  of  the  religious  principles  of 
the  International  to  guess  easily  that  its  journals 
spare  still  less,  if  possible,  the  clergy,  than  the 
bourgeoisie,  the  army,  and  the  magistracy.  See 
how  Le  Mirabeau  of  Verviers  speaks  of  the  priest 
in  the  pulpit. 

"  See  the  clown  who  is  kicking  about  in  a  cask, 
like  the  devil  in  a  basin  of  holy  water,  insinuating 
to  the  amiable  flock  assembled  that  his  gibberish  is 


t34  History  of  the  International. 

pure  and  sound  morality  emanating  from  a  super 
natural  power.  This  clown  with  lugubrious  man 
ners  roars  in  his  cask  like  thunder,  grimaces  and 
contorts  himself  like  an  epileptic  ;  he  stamps  with 
frenzy,  and  raises  himself  like  a  tragic  buffoon, 
ready  to  leap  close-legged  upon  his  amazed  auditors, 
who  hear  without  frowning  the  platitudes  and 
wearisome  tirades  of  his  tragico-comic  repertoire. 
This  kind  of  charlatan  has  worn  out  the  seat  of 
his  breeches  upon  the  university  benches,  to  chant 
to  us  pasquinades  in  a  dead  language  and  to  quote 
to  us  latinized  texts  that  we  do  not  understand  any 
more  than  the  language  of  Vidocq,  famous  user  of 
slang,  whom  Mercury  has  in  his  holy  and  worthy 
keeping,  if  he  does  not  carry  him  in  his  bosom. 
When  these  buffoons,  dressed  fantastically,  go 
through  the  streets  bawling  like  young  asses, 
scenting  the  hundred  sous  pieces  as  the  hyena 
scents  the  putrified  flesh,  dispatching  souls  to 
Charon  by  different  gates,  they  produce  all  the 
effect  of  maniacs  escaped  from  Bedlam.  Such 
rascals  stir  one's  soul  with  indignation.  All  their 
acts  are  arbitrary,  stamped  with  perfidy  and  ras 
cality.  They  are  our  very  dear  brothers  in  Jesus 
Christ ;  we  are  the  Abels  of  our  very  dear  Cains. 
Dance,  puppets,  skipping-jacks,  my  loves,  of  your 

mummeries  one  is forever/' 

We  ask  our  reader's  pardon  for  having  inflicted 
upon  them  the  reading  of  these  ignoble  lines,  but 
it  is  necessary  that  honest  men  should  know  to 
what  degree  of  violence  and  impudence,  natures 
ignorant  and  coarse  can  be  carried  away* 


History  of  the  International.  13$ 

Moreover  this  frightful  abuse,  lavished  upon  all 
that  society  is  accustomed  to  respect,  does  it  not 
explain  the  crimes  which  have  stupefied  Europe  and 
which  at  first  seemed  inexplicable  ? 

The  journals  of  the  International  had  for  several 
years  excited  their  readers  against  the  army  :  the 
dead  bodies  of  two  generals,  cowardly  assassinated, 
are  proof  that  they  did  not  preach  in  the  desert. 

The  journals  of  the  International  denounced  the 
corruption  and  infamy  of  the  magistry  :  the  Presi 
dent  Bonjean  was  slain  by  their  faithful  readers. 

The  journals  of  the  International,  not  content 
with  teaching  under  all  forms,  materialism  and  athe 
ism,  grossly  abused  the  members  of  the  clergy  and 
excited  against  them  the  waves  of  popular  hatred. 
As  soon  as  their  disciples  were  masters  of  Paris, 
they  pillaged  convents  and  churches:  when  they 
saw  they  were  lost,  they  consoled  themselves  on 
their  defeat  by  murdering  the  archbishop,  all  the 
priests,  and  all  the  monks  whom  they  had  been 
able  to  seize. 

We  see  that  the  editors  of  these  journals  wasted 
neither  their  time  nor  their  ink." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

STRIKES. 

I.  OFFICIAL  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  ON 
THE  SUBJECTS  OF  STRIKES. PRACTICE  DIFFER 
ENT  FROM  THEORY. — THE  STRIKE  A  POWERFUL 
MEANS  OF  PROPAGANDISM. — HOW  THE  INTERNA 
TIONAL  RECRUITED  GENERAL  DUVAL. 

When  [the  International  is  accused  of  foment 
ing  strikes,  its  doctors  protest  with  the  greatest 
energy,  bringing  forward  to  the  support  of  their 
protestations,  the  finest  theories. 

Hear  Varlin  defending  himself  before  the  sixth 
tribunal,  May  22nd,  1868  :  "The  International  As 
sociation  does  not  admit  the  strike  on  principle  ;  it 
believes  that  it  is  an  anti-economic  means.  It  de 
clared  this  at  Geneva,  it  declared  it  everywhere." 

All  the  others  accused  hold  the  same  language 
before  the  tribunal. 

The  journals  of  the  association  speak  ordinarily 
in  the  same  way  to  their  especial  public. 

In  the  course  of  the  third  trial  of  the  Interna 
tional,  at  the  audience  of  July  5th,  1870,  an  ac 
cused  went  still  beyond  the  protestations  of  the 
leaders  and  their  journals.  With  a  great  supply  of 
learning,  quoting  M.  Levasseur,  and  Turgot,  and 
Blanqui  the  economist,  threatening  to  quote  Ri- 
cardo,  Adam  Smith  and  J.-B.  Say,  he  proved  that  it 
was  the  ferocity  of  the  employers  which  alone  drove 


History  of  the  International  137 

the  workingmen  to  put  themselves  on  strike.  The 
end  of  this  passage  merits  being  quoted  literally  : 

"  That  the  capitalists,  on  the  occasion  of  a  strike 
stirred  up  by  their  greedy  pretensions,  are  the  first 
to  accuse  the  International  of  all  the  evil,  I  do  not 
find  astonishing.  They  act  on  this  point,  like  the 
wolf  of  the  fable  who  placed  himself  on  the  bank 
of  a  stream,  and  accused  of  troubling  his  water,  the 
lamb  who  quenched  his  thirst  below  him  in  the 
current.  The  lamb  in  vain  defended  himself,  claim 
ing  that  water  could  not  run  up  hill,  all  his  denials 
served  him  nothing ;  the  wolf  sought  only  a  favorable 
occasion  for  devouring  him." 

The  President :  "  The  lamb,  is  it  the  Interna 
tional  ? " 

Answer:  "And  the  wolf  is  the  capitalist." 

The  accused,  who  thus  compared  his  comrades  and 
himself  to  timid  lambs,  was  no  other  than  Frankel, 
future  member  of  the  Commune. 

In  spite  of  all  these  fine  declarations,  and  these 
touching  comparisons,  the  congress,  which  did  not 
directly  approach  the  subject  of  strikes,  either  at 
its  first  or  second  session,  neither  at  Geneva,  nor 
at  Lausanne,  considered  it  at  Brussels,  and  adopted 
the  conclusions  read  by  Brisme"e  in  the  name  of  the 
committee,  in  which  it  is  said  :  "  that  the  strike  is 
not  a  means  of  completely  emancipating  the  laborer, 
but  that  it  is  often  a  necessity  in  the  actual  state  of 
war  between  labor  and  capital ;  that  there  is  reason 
for  submitting  it  to  certain  rules,  to  some  conditions 
of  organization,  of  opportunity,  and  of  legitimacy  ;" 
that  consequently  there  is  reason  for  creating  some 


138  History  of  the  International. 

"societies  of  resistance"  for  all  the  professions 
which  have  not  yet  had  them ;  "  afterwards  to  or 
ganize  among  them  societies  of  resistance  of  all 
professions  and  of  all  countries,  instituting  in  each 
local  federation  of  the  societies  of  resistance,  a 
treastiry  designed  to  sustain  strikes :  that,  in  a  word, 
it  must  continue  in  this  manner  the  work  undertaken 
by  tht  International,  and  exert  itself  to  make  the 
proletariat  enter  bodily  into  this  association ; "  that 
finally  it  must  constitute  in  each  federation  "  a  coun 
cil  of  arbitration  to  judge  of  the  opportunity  and  the 
legitimacy  of  eventual  strikes." 

Why  does  the  International  which  speaks  out 
nearly  all  that  it  thinks,  show  itself  a  long  time  so 
reserved  upon  this  point  in  its  declarations  ? 

It  is  because  the  strike,  which  troubles  always 
more  or  less  deeply  the  public  peace  and  material 
order,  causes  at  least  as  much  fear  to  the  govern 
ments,  little  friendly  to  political  complications,  as 
to  the  bourgeois,  little  anxious  to  see  their  interests 
compromised,  and  that  there  was  no  wish,  at  least 
in  the  first  years,  to  alarm  too  much  the  govern 
ments.  It  is  because,  among  the  workingmen  them 
selves,  the  strike  which  condemns  to  long  stoppage, 
which  induces  so  many  privations,  so  many  physical 
and  moral  sufferings,  is  not  popular,  and  that  they 
submit  to  it, — we  speak  of  the  mass  and  not  of  the 
leaders, — only  at  the  last  extremity,  when  they  un 
fortunately  deem  it  to  be  indispensable.  It  is  be 
cause  a  society  which  should  declare  aloud  that  its 
end  was  to  organize  strikes,  would  not  be  much  bet 
ter  viewed  in  the  ranks  of  the  workingmen  them- 


History  of  the  International. 

Selves  than  would  be  in  the  ranks  of  the  bourgeoisie 
an  association  announcing  itself  as  designed  to  pro 
pagate  war. 

Nevertheless,  as  much  as  it  is  possible  to  guess 
the  secret  thoughts  of  the  founders  of  the  Interna 
tional,  their  principal  end,  we  might  almost  say 
their  only  end,  was  at  first  to  establish  an  under 
standing  between  the  workingmen  of  all  countries, 
in  order  to  prevenf  them  from  establishing,  as  had 
been  for  a  long  time  customary,  competition  between 
them,  and  to  permit  them,  on  the  contrary,  to  im 
pose  henceforth  by  the  coalition  (or,  in  the  Inter 
national  jargon,  by  the  solidarization)  of  all  "the 
laborers  "  their  laws  upon  employers  not  associated 
or  solidarized. 

The  idea  was  simple  and  practical ;  the  English 
mind  can  be  recognized  in  it,  and  the  details  of  the 
organization  of  the  International  show  sufficiently 
that  it  was  founded  by  men  who  well  understood 
the  trade-unions.  Moreover  this  project,  which  took 
two  years  to  mature,  only  was  put  into  execution 
quite  seriously,  at  the  banquet  of  Saint  Martin's 
Hall,  in  1864,  some  months  after  the  vote  of  the 
law  of  coalitions,  which  rendered  strikes  legally 
possible  in  France.  Is  it  then  venturing  too  far 
upon  the  ground  of  conjecture  to  suppose  that  the 
principal  end  of  the  companions  of  Saint  Martin's 
Hall  was  to  found  an  association  designed  to  dic 
tate  laws  to  isolated  bourgeois,  by  means  of  formid 
able  strikes  which  could  show  that  the  workingmen 
of  all  Europe  were  well  united  among  themselves  ? 

But  in  proportion  as  success  increased  and  the 


History  of  the  International. 

French  took  a  more  important  part  in  the  material 
and  especially  intellectual  direction  of  the  Interna 
tional,  the  associates  were  to  conceive  more  lofty 
designs.  To  be  content  any  longer  under  the  de 
pendency  on  employers,  when  they  believed  them 
selves  strong  enough  to  suppress  them  and  reduce 
them  to  \\\Q  good  soup  Q{  charity,*  would  be  altogether 
too  modest.  Each  day  new  adherents  came  by 
thousands.  There  were  barely  some  hundreds  four 
or  five  years  ago  ;  already  there  is  united  an  army 
of  which  the  soldiers  are  numbered  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  by  millions.  Moreover,  it  is  French, 
that  is  to  say,  great  friend  of  radical  revolutions 
and  changes  in  view ;  one  does  not  know  how  to 
limit  one's-self  to  consider  a  question  as  it  may  be 
in  the  commonplaces  of  the  present  hour,  in  the 
fatiguing  and  nice  details  of  reality,  one  adores  the 
grand  syntheses,  the  vast  perspectives  of  an  ideal 
future.  Why  limit  its  desires  like  the  English  to 
an  increase  of  some  cents  upon  the  daily  salary  ? 
That  word  salary,  is  not  even  that  an  insult  ? 
Forward,  imagination  shows  the  way.  Let  us  for 
get  the  cold  reality  and  sketch  in  broad  lines  the 
republic  of  the  future,  where  there  will  be  neither 
bourgeois,  nor  hirelings,  nor  speculators,  nor  those 
speculated  on,  where  social  harmony  will  no  longer 
be  troubled  by  the  passions,  where  the  most  perfect 
equality  will  reign,  where  even  the  inequalities  that 
nature  alone  has  established,  in  that  moment  will  find 
no  longer  place  between  the  members  of  the  actual 
society. 

*  See  page  132. 


History  of  the  International.  141 

To-day  this  is  the  dream  which  dominates  in  the 
International.  All  the  associates,  those  of  France, 
Belgium,  and  Switzerland,  at  least,  believe  firmly 
in  social  regeneration,  in  the  early  and  complete 
metamorphosis  of  the  old  society ;  but  they  have 
made  their  ideal  low  and  ugly  enough  so  that  the 
English  common  people  can  admire  it  and  seek  to 
attain  to  it.  All  have  but  one  idea ;  to  bring 
about  the  most  prompt  possible  advent  of  this 
democratic  and  social  republic,  in  which  all  stom 
achs  will  be  filled  at  their  ease,  except  those  of  the 
bourgeois.  Now  the  means  of  making  these  fine 
ideas  triumph  very  quickly,  is  to  draw,  in  a  short 
time,  all  the  workingmen  of  the  cities  and  fields 
into  the  ranks  of  the  International.  Propagandism 
is  the  first  duty,  since  that  can  hasten  the  advent 
of  the  new  era. 

The  strike  was  at  once  an  end.  Little  by  little 
experience  has  proved  that  it  increased  in  enor 
mous  proportions  the  forces  of  the  association,  by 
persuading  strikers  to  throw  themselves  into  its 
arms.  Then  it  became  a  means,  but  a  very  pre 
cious  means.  It  is  Varlin  himself  who  teaches  it 
to  us : 

"  You  will  tell  us  if  the  efforts  made  by  you 
among  the  cotton-workers  of  other  houses  permit  us 
to  arrive  at  a  favorable  result.  Tell  them  that  they 
ought  to  sustain  themselves  among  themselves  at 
once,  to  the  end  of  meriting  the  assistance  of  their 
brothers  in  other  lands  in  event  of  the  contest 
becoming  general.  Tell  them  especially  that  they 
ought  to  be  grouped,  organized,  solidarized,  to  enter 


142  History  of  the  International. 

into  the  International  league  of  workingmen,  in  order 
to  assure  themselves  of  the  cooperation  of  all,  and  to  be 
able  to  guard  against  all  evil  contingencies.  Is  it 
necessary,  moreover,  to  tell  you  that  ?  This  is 
what  you  are  doing,  and  this  strike  must  be  for  you 
a  fine  occasion  for  propagandizing?* 

How  the  strike  brings  by  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  new  adherents  to  the  International,  is  what 
one  of  the  accused  in  the  third  trial,  named  Bertin, 
explains  to  us  with  much  naivete*.  The  account 
which  he  gives  before  the  tribunal  is  too  instructive 
not  to  be  quoted  entire  : 

M.  le  President:  "  Bertin,  you  may  speak." 

Bertin :  "  I  am  accused  of  belonging  to  a  secret 
society.  I  deny  it  formally.  I  belong  to  the 
International,  and  I  hope,  in  spite  of  all,  to  belong 
to  it  always.  These  are  the  circumstances  in 
which  I  joined  it :  At  the  time  of  the  strike  of  the 
iron-founders,  we  had  a  meeting ;  one  of  our 
friends  said  to  us  :  '  We  are  on  strike,  we  have 
constituted  a  society  of  resistance,  but  we  have 
still  another  thing  to  do,  that  is  to  belong  to  the 
International'  This  friend  read  us  the  statutes,  we 
perceived  that  they  were  good  and  there  was  no 
inconvenience  in  belonging  to  it.  A  vote  was 
taken,  and  twelve  hundred  of  us  joined  the  Interna 
tional.  That  happened  the  28th  of  last  April." 

M.  le  President :  "  Was  this  union  according  to 
rule  ?" 

Bertin:  "  The  prof ession  joined  en  masse? 

*  Letter  quoted  by  the  accusation  in  the  third  trial. 


History  of  the  International.  143 

M.  le  President :  "  Did  you  receive  tickets  ?" 

Bertin :  "  No  one  had  any  tickets." 

M.  le  President:  "  Are  you  subject  to  assess 
ment  ?" 

Bertin:  "  We  have  not  had  time  to  make  it.  In 
this  meeting  in  which  we  joined  en  masse  we  said  : 
'  We  must  not  drag  along  slowly,  we  must  organize 
immediately  ;  let  us  nominate  delegates  for  forming 
a  section/  We  named  four  delegates  who  went  to 
the  International  and  received  all  necessary  infor 
mation.  Little  books  were  given  them  containing 
the  regulations  of  the  International,  and  they 
were  distributed,  one  for  each  workshop.  I  was 
one  of  the  four  delegates  ;  it  was  in  this  capacity 
that  I  assisted  at  the  reunions  of  the  federal  coun 
cil,  and  it  was  there  that  I  signed  the  manifesto." 

Another  accused,  who  was  to  acquire  some 
months  later  a  sad  celebrity  and  pay  with  his  life 
for  his  participation  in  the  insurrection  of  March 
1 8th,  Duval,  the  future  general  of  the  Commune, 
explains  in  his  turn  in  the  same  audience,  with  a 
language  more  violent  and  spiteful,  but  with 
motives  absolutely  identical,  his  entry  into  a  society 
whose  plots  were  very  soon  to  lead  him  to  death  : 

"  In  order  to  make  the  motives  of  our  adhesion 
en  masse  to  the  International  understood,  I  must 
here  relate  the  beginning  of  our  strike,  that  you 
may  judge  for  yourselves  whether  our  demands  upon 
our  employers  were  just  and  well  founded.  For 
several  years  day -wages  have  undergone  such  a 
diminution  that  two-thirds  of  the  moulders  were 
paid  from  four  to  five  francs,  while  before  this  time 


144  History  of  the  International. 

day  wages  were  five  francs  at  the  least ;  notwith 
standing,  it  is  easy  to  prove  that  the  necessaries  of 
life  have  increased  on  all  sides  ;  lodging,  clothing, 
food,  all  have  reached  fabulous  prices. 

"  In  the  winter  of  1869-70,  three-quarters  of  the 
foundries  of  Paris  were  worked  only  eight  and  nine 
hours  a  day ;  at  last,  the  misery  was  at  its  height. 
At  the  end  of  the  winter,  it  was  decided  in  a 
reunion  that  these  abuses  must  be  made  to  cease  at 
any  cost ;  a  committee  was  nominated  for  the  pur 
pose  of  studying  the  remedies  in  the  business  ; 
after  some  meetings,  this  committee  convoked  the 
delegation  of  each  workshop  which  accepted  the 
plan,  and  the  delegation  having  transmitted  this 
statement  to  each  workshop,  it  was  adopted  unani 
mously,  except  by  a  few  voices. 

"  Thirty-six  out  of  forty-seven  of  our  employers 
refused ;  they  received  our  demands  with  disdain, 
and  some  of  them  answered :  We  will  wait  until 
you  are  hungry.  .  .  :»j»i< 

"  In  view  of  such  contempt,  the  succeeding 
assembly  voted  and  signed  the  strike  to  the  last ; 
they  swore  on  their  honor  not  to  recommence 
before  the  complete  acceptance  of  our  demands ; 
and  the  proposition  was  made  by  me  that  all  should 
join  the  International.  Eight  or  nine  hundred  mem 
bers  present  joined  in  a  body,  signed  their  adhesion 
before  breaking  up,  and  nominated  immediately 
four  delegates  to  represent  them  at  the  general 
council  of  Paris. 

"  I  was  one  of  those  delegates  ;  Bertin  was 
another.  Now,  sirs,  I  think  I  have  sufficiently 
explained  my  joining  the  International." 


tfistory  of  the  International.  145 

The  facts  which  Duval  and  Bertin  recounted  are 
the  general  rule ;  every  strike,  which  led  to  a  vic 
tory  or  a  defeat,  had  as  inevitable  consequence  the 
persuading  of 9  all  the  workingmen  who  took  part 
in  it  to  join  the  International. 

How,  therefore,  can  we  believe  the  leaders  of 
the  association  when  they  declare  themselves 
scarcely  partisans  of  these  coalitions  where  they 
received  their  principal  force  ? 

II.  STRIKE  AT  ROUBAIX  IN  l86/. — MANIFESTO  OF 
THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  "JOURNAL  DES 
DEBATS." 

We  have  already  been  able  to  judge,  upon  a  few 
facts  quoted  by  us,  with  what  ardor  the  Interna 
tional  sustained  strikes,  and  what  importance  it 
attached  to  not  allowing  the  men  whom  it  had 
pushed  into  the  contest  to  return  conquered  to 
their  workshops.  A  complete  history  of  the  coali 
tions  to  which  it  gave  its  support,  and  which  have 
been  able,  thanks  to  it,  either  to  win  a  complete 
victory  or  to  make  their  employers  pay  dear  for 
their  defeats,  would  be  almost  the  history  of  Euro 
pean  industry  itself  for  the  last  seven  or  eight 
years.  Such  a  recital,  if  it  were  possible  to  make 
it,  would  lead  us  too  far  away  ;  moreover,  the  major 
ity  of  the  documents  which  it  would  be  necessary  to 
have  in  hand  in  order  to  undertake  it  are  not  yet 
accessible.  Probably,  the  trials  made  nearly  every 
where  of  the  members  of  the  International  who 
took  part  in  the  troubles  and  insurrections  of  that 

7 


146  History  of  the  International. 

year,  and  the  workingmen  seized  in  their  homes  ; 
later,  the  divisions  which  will  result  between  the 
different  sections,  and  the  quarrels  which  will  have 
preceded  or  followed  them  ;  the  memoirs  which 
several  oi  the  leaders  will  decide  perhaps  to  write, 
all  these  diverse  causes,  and  still  many  others,  will 
initiate  the  public  gradually  into  a  crowd  of  myste 
ries  which  to-day  are  carefully  concealed  from  it. 
Then  it  will  be  possible  to  write  the  complete 
history  of  the  International,  and  particularly  that 
of  the  strikes  which  it  created.  We  can  be  sure 
that  this  will  be  one  of  the  most  curious  and 
instructive  pages  in  the  annals  of  our  century. 
But  to-day  we  must  submit  on  this  point,  as  on 
many  others  of  contemporaneous  history,  to  merely 
throwing  the  dice  near  the  point  and  endeavoring 
to  guess  what  they  try  to  conceal  from  us. 

Perhaps  they  will  have  the  kindness  to  give  us, 
in  place  of  a  rapid  nomenclature  of  the  principal 
strikes,  the  detailed  account  of  two  or  three  of 
them,  taken  as  types,  in  order  to  show  the  tragic 
incidents  which  too  often  occur  to  complicate  them, 
and  to  bring  to  light  what  curious  specimens  of 
eloquence  the  publicists  of  the  International  dis 
played  on  such  occasions. 

It  will  be  seen,  also,  by  our  account,  that  the 
movement  of  ideas  which  we  remarked  apropos  of 
the  congresses,  was  produced  equally  by  reason  of 
these  coalitions.  The  violence  of  passions  and 
of  language  increased  from  day  to  day,  and  the 
leaders  who,  in  the  first  years,  could  in  extreme 
cases  allow  themselves  to  blame  officially  the  vices 


History  of  the  International.  147 

of  their  soldiers,  were  obliged,  in  the  later  times, 
to  close  their  eyes  upon  their  most  reprehensible 
excesses,  and  to  turn  the  thunders  of  their  elo 
quence  solely  against  the  champions  of  order, 
guilty  of  having  interposed  to  protect  person  and 
property. 

In  1867,  at  Roubaix,  new  perfected  machines 
were  introduced  which  economized  labor,  for  one 
man  could  conduct  two  at  a  time.  The  working- 
men,  thinking  it  just  that  they  should  share  in  the 
. benefits  which  this  improvement  procured  for  the 
employers,  claimed  an  increase  of  wages,  which 
was  refused  them.  The  establishing  of  a  new  reg 
ulation,  which  imposed  various  fines  as  punishment 
for  certain  faults,  increased  the  discontent.  Their 
minds  were  much  excited,  and  doubtless  the  leaders 
labored  to  increase  this  irritation,  when  on  Satur 
day,  March  i6th,  the  stftrm,  which  for  several  days 
had  muttered  secretly,  burst  forth".  The  working- 
men  left  their  workshops  abruptly  in  the  middle  of 
the  day,  crying  out  and  offering  menaces  against 
different  manufacturers.  There  were  more  than 
twenty-five  thousand  men  who  ran  through  the 
streets  of  the  city,  scattering  fear  everywhere  by 
their  vociferations.  The  municipal  authority  has 
tened  to  ask  reinforcements  from  Lille.  But  before 
the  summoned  troops  arrived,  the  disorder  assumed 
serious  proportions. 

The  workingmen,  who  for  a  long  time  had  wan 
dered  through  the  streets  without  determined  aim, 
finished  by  turning  themselves,  or  rather  by  letting 
themselves  be  led,  against  the  workshops  designated 


148  History  of  the  International. 

for  their  vengeance.  During  several  hours,  scenes' 
of  pillage  and  devastation  were  created  without  its 
being  possible  to  oppose  the  least  resistance  to  the 
pillagers.  Seven  workshops  were  invaded,  the 
machines  were  destroyed,  the  pieces  of  cloth  on 
the  frames  slashed,  and  the  chains  cut  upon  the 
machines. 

The  private  houses  of  two  of  the  manufacturers, 
from  whom  most  had  been  desired,  were  sacked ; 
the  furniture,  beds,  bedding,  and  dishes,  were 
thrown  out  of  the  windows. 

The  rage  of  the  rioters  increased  every  moment, 
and  they  fired  two  of  the  workshops  which  they 
had  devastated. 

It  is  not  known  to  what  extent  these  madmen 
would  .have  been  carried  if,  that  same  evening, 
there  had  not  arrived  two  battalions  of  the  line 
and  two  squadrons  of  cuirassiers.  The  insurgents, 
faithful  to  the  constant  tactics  of  all  these  insurrec 
tions,  received  the  soldiers  with  cries  of:  "Vive  la 
ligne  !  "  hoping  thus  to  turn  them  from  their  duty  ; 
but,  when  they  saw  that  these  troops,  instead  of 
raising  their  guns  in  the  air,  charged  f  arms,  they 
decided  to  retire,  and  material  order  was  reestab 
lished. 

Sunday  was  not  very  bad  ;  Monday,  at  six  in  the 
morning,  many  of  the  workingmen  were  at  their 
work,  and  we  can  believe  that  the  loiterers  them 
selves  came  to  resume  their  work  at  breakfast  time, 
But  all  at  once  a  word  of  command  was  given  ; 
immediately  the  weavers  demanded  an  increase  of 
wages,  which  was  refused  them  ;  they  retired,  and 


History  of  the  International.  149 

a  regular  strike  succeeded  the  outbreak,  the  oppo 
site  of  what  usually  occurred ;  for  most  often,  the 
coalition,  at  first  peaceable,  assumes  only  by  de 
grees  the  character  of  an  insurrection. 

Whatever  r61e  the  International  played  in  the  , 
strike,  or  in  the  events  which  preceded  it,  it  could 
not  let  facts  so  grave  pass  without  making  known 
officially  the  manner  in  which  it  judged  them.  In 
fact,  MM.  Tolain,  Fribourg,  and  Varlin,  in  the 
character  of  correspondents  of  the  committee  of 
Paris,  did  not  delay  to  publish  the  following  mani 
festo  : 

"  Much  to  be  regretted  troubles,  accompanied 
by  violence  still  more  to  be  regretted,  have  broken 
out  among  the  spinners  and  weavers  of  Roubaix. 

"  The  causes  are  :  ist.  The  introduction  of 
machines  imposing  upon  the  weavers  an  increase  of 
work  without  an  increase  of  pay,  and  cutting  off  at 
the  same  time  a  great  number  of  workingmen  ;  2nd. 
The  establishment  of  a  regulation  imposing  meas 
ures  offensive  to  their  dignity  and  fines  which  were 
flagrant  violations  of  law ;  3rd.  Finally,  the  inter 
vention  of  the  gendarmerie  in  these  details  of  pri 
vate  interests,  and  in  a  case  where  it  ought  perhaps 
to  watch  over  the  public  security,  but  not  to  pro 
tect  by  its  presence  the  pretensions  of  individuals. 

"  The  strike  provoked  by  these  causes  has  had 
for  consequences,  sad  events  of  which  public  opin 
ion  has  been  informed. 

"  In  this  situation,  the  International  Association 
considers  it  its  duty  to  declare  itself,  and  to  call  the 
attention  of  workingmen  of  all  countries  by  mak 
ing  the  following  declarations  : 


150  History  of  the  International. 

"  The  use  of  machines  in  industry  raises  an  eco 
nomic  problem,  whose  speedy  solution  is  imperi 
ously  demanded.  We,  workingmen,  recognize  on 
principle  the  right  of  workingmen  to  a  proportion- 
.  ate  increase  of  salary,  when,  by  new  implements,  a 
more  considerable  production  is  imposed  upon  them. 

"  In  France,  land  of  universal  suffrage  and  equal 
ity,  the  workman  is  still  citizen  when  he  has  crossed 
the  threshold  of  the  workshop  or  the  manufactory. 
The  regulations  imposed  upon  the  spinners  of  Rou- 
baix,  are  made  for  slaves  and  not  for  free  men. 
They  threaten  not  only  the  dignity,  but  even  the 
existence  of  the  workingmen,  since  the  amount  of 
taxes  may  cut  off  and  exceed  the  rates  of  salary. 

"  In  an  equal  debate,  when  no  violence  had  been 
committed,  and  the  strike  commenced  by  the  aban 
donment  of  the  workshops,  the  intervention  of  the 
gendarmerie  could  only  irritate  the  workingmen  who 
thought  they  beheld  pressure  and  threats. 

"  Workingmen  of  Roubaix,  whatever  your  just 
grievances  may  be,  nothing  can  justify  the  acts  of 
destruction  of  which  you  have  been  guilty, — con 
sider  that  the  machine,  the  instrument  of  labor, 
should  be  sacred  to  you  ;  consider  that  such  vio 
lence  compromises  your  cause  and  that  of  all  labor 
ers  ; — consider  that  you  have  just  furnished  arms 
to  the  adversaries  of  liberty  and  the  calumniators 
of  the  people. 

"  The  strike  continues  :  new  arrests  have  been 
made.  We  remind  every  member  of  the  Interna 
tional  Association  of  Workingmen,  that  there  are 
at  this  moment  brothers  at  Roubaix  who  are  suffer^ 


History  of  the  International.  151 

ing.  If  there  are  among  them  men,  who  for  one 
moment  led  astray,  were  guilty  of  violence  which 
we  condemn,  there  is  between  them  and  us  solidar 
ity  of  interest  and  misery  ;  at  the  bottom  of  the 
contest,  there  are  also  just  grievances  which  the 
manufacturers  should  remove.  Finally,  there  are 
families  without  a  head  ;  let  each  one  of  us  bring 
to  them  moral  and  material  aid." 

We  see  that  the  representatives  of  the  Interna 
tional  while  they  accuse  the  employers  on  every 
point,  recognized  at  least  that  the  workingmen  on 
their  part  had  committed  excesses  to  be  regretted, 
and  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  blame  them. 

Le  Journal  des  Dvbats  published  on  this  subject, 
under  the  signature  of  the  editorial  secretary,  an 
article  which  we  canno*"  reproduce  here  entire,  be 
cause  of  its  length,  but  from  which  we  must  quote 
at  least  a  part : 

"The  events  at  Roubaix  have  given  rise  to  a 
manifestation  which  can  not  be  passed  over  in 
silence ;  this  is  a  declaration  of  the  International 
Association  of  Workingmen,  represented  by  three 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Paris,  who  sign 
themselves  with  the  title  of  Correspondents :  MM. 
Tolain,  Fribourg,  and  Varlin.  The  International 
Association  of  Workingmen  is  little  known  to  out 
readers,  but  it  is  well  that  it  is  so,  although  it  seems 
to  us  only  to  exist  yet  in  an  experimental  or  embry 
onic  state.  It  aspires  to  nothing  less  than  the  em 
bracing  of  the  workingmen  of  all  manufacturing 
trades  of  Europe,  and  it  is  certain  that  it  has  some  nu 
merous  ramifications  already  in  England  and  on  the 


152  History  of  the  International. 

Continent.  It  will  then  be  the  largest  society  which 
has  ever  been  formed.  It  has  been  seen  on  occasion 
of  the  strike  which  lately  suspended  in  Paris  the 
bronze  trade,  that  the  principal  object  of  this  asso 
ciation  will  be  to  interfere  in  times  of  strikes,  sus 
taining  not  only  by  its  influence,  but  also  by  its 
subsidies,  the  unoccupied  workingmen  of  the  trade 
in  which  the  strike  shall  have  been  declared. 

"  The  International  Association  had  at  least  a 
word  to  say  on  the  subject  of  what  has  transpired 
at  Roubaix,  since  these  much  to  be  regretted  events 
had  their  origin  in  a  strike.  This  is  what  it  has 
done  through  the  medium  of  the  three  correspond 
ents  whom  we  have  just  quoted.  It  condemns  the 
violence  of  which  some  misguided  men  were  guilty. 
It  warns  the  workingmen  in  general  that  such,  vio 
lence  compromises  the  cause  of  all  laborers.  It 
declares  that  the  machine,  as  an  instrument  of 
labor,  should  be  sacred.  These  are  salutary  and 
opportune  truths.  Unfortunately  the  preambles 
are  not  equal  to  the  enacting  part.  According  to 
the  letter  of  the  correspondents,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  destructions  of  the  machines  and  the  sack  of 
the  workshops,  all  the  wrong  doing  was  on  the  side 
of  the  employers.  These  wrongdoings  are  enumer 
ated  in  the  letter,  and  the  enumeration  merits  con 
sideration." 

After  having  discussed  not  only  with  impartiality 
but  even  with  good  will  towards  the  three  signers  of 
the  manifesto,  the  different  reproaches  which  they 
Addressed  to  the  employers,  the  anonymous  author 
of  this  article  turns  around  upon  them  anc]  shows. 


History  of  the  International.  153 

them  that  public  opinion  demanded  that  they  should 
have  explained  themselves  in  their  turn  ;  then  he 
returns  to  MM.  Tolain,  Fribourg,  and  Varlin,  and 
throws  light,  on  one  side,  upon  that  which  is  praise 
worthy  in  their  publication  ;  and  on  the  other,  that 
which  he  regrets  not  to  find  there  : 

"  Although   the   correspondents  of  the    Interna 
tional   association    may    have   applied    themselves 
especially  in  their  manifesto  to  setting  off  in  relief 
the  wrongdoings  which  they  attributed  to  the  em 
ployers,  a  certain  courage  was  necessary  in  order 
to  blame,  as  they  have  done,  the  disorders  of  Rou- 
baix.      Their   language   of    condemnation   is    not 
without  energy  ;  there  might,  however,  have  been 
more  of  it.     It  is  not  necessary  to  say  to  the  work- 
ingmen :    The   causes   of  the  strike    and   of  that 
which  follows  was  the  presence  of  the  gendarmes 
in  the  manufactories,  the  introduction   of  the  new 
frames,  the  establishment  of  a  more  severe  regula 
tion  in  the  manufactories  ;  it  was  necessary  to  tell 
them  that  the  cause  of  the  sad  events,  the  cause  not 
accidental  or  secondary,  but  predominant,  was  the 
ignorance  of  the  workingmen  concerning  their  own 
interests,  and  the  weakness  with  which  a  certain 
number  of  them  abandoned  themselves  to  evil  pro 
pensities.     It  would  have  been  wiser  to  represent 
to  the  population  that  if  they  had  better  habits,  if 
they  abandoned  the  public-houses,  far  4oo  much 
frequented  in  the  North,  they  would  no  longer  be, 
nearly  as  much,  at  the  mercy  of  incidents  which 
can    suspend    work.      The    correspondents   of    the 
International  association  would  have  done  better  in 

7* 


154  History  of  the  International. 

the  role  of  intelligent  leaders  and  honest  guides  if 
they  had  said  to  the  workingmen  :  '  You  are  igno 
rant,  inform  yourselves.  Profit  by  the  facilities 
which  are  given  you  to-day  to  instruct  yourselves. 
Many  of  you  lack  sobriety  ;  let  them  correct  them 
selves  ;  let  them  work  six  days  in  the  week ;  let  them 
thus  acquire  some  savings  for  slack  seasons.  The 
workingmen  of  Northern  Germany  have  no  higher 
salaries  than  you,  and  yet  they  have  furnished  the 
funds  for  900  or  1,000  banks  of  the  people,  which 
are  formed  on  the '  model  recommended  by  M. 
Schultze-Delitsch,  banks  which  are  at  the  same 
time  conducted  like  the  savings  banks  and  institu 
tions  of  credit.'  The  correspondents  of  the  Interna 
tional  association  attach  a  great  value  to  strength 
ening  and  extending  the  authority  which  they 
exercise  over  their  fellow-members ;  authority,  in 
order  to  justify  its  prerogative,  has  sometimes  need 
to  speak  the  whole  truth,  however  painful  it  may 
be  to  hear  it." 

The  correspondents  of  the  International  replied  to 
the  Journal  des  Dtbats  by  a  long  letter,  in  which 
they  did  little  but  resume  and  develop  each  of  the 
points  considered  in  the  first  manifesto  ;  the  Jour 
nal  des  D'ebats  inserted  it  without  making  a  response, 
which  nothing,  in  fact,  rendered  necessary,  and  the 
discussion  rested  there. 

Upon  «the  whole,  the  men  who  spoke  in  the  name 
of  the  International,  had,  in  their  manifesto,  flat 
tered  the  bad  passions  of  the  workingmen  of  Rou- 
baix,  and  advanced  either  knowingly,  for  the  needs 
of  their  cause,  or  unwittingly  and  by  themselves 


History  of  the  International.  155 

being  deceived,  statements  completely  false,  when 
they  attributed  the  pillage  and  incendiarism  of  the 
workshops  to  the  intervention  of  the  gendarmerie ; 
but,  finally,  they  dared  to  blame  these  scenes  of 
devastation  ;  that  was  much. 

The  journal  which  represents  more  than  any 
other  French  sheet  to  the  eyes  of  the  public  the 
high,  rich,  and  cultivated  bourgeoisie,  had  discussed 
their  proclamation  by  marking  the  tendencies 
already  too  evident  of  their  society,  but  in  a  tone 
calm,  courteous,  and  even  well-wishing.  MM.  To- 
lain,  Fribourg,  and  ^Varlin,  who  thought  it  their 
duty  to  respond  to  these  criticisms,  did  it  without 
too  far  exceeding  the  moderation  of  which  an 
example  had  been  given  them.* 


*  These  pages  were  already  written  when  we  found  in  Le  Soir, 
of  July  iQth,  an  article  in  which  M.  Fribourg,  one  of  the  signers  of 
this  manifesto,  relates  as  follows  the  affair  of  Roubaix  and  the 
intervention  of  the  correspondents  of  the  association  : 

"  About  the  same  time,  a  terrible  incident  occurred  :  the  work- 
ingmen  of  Roubaix,  in  a  burst  of  furious  rage,  broke  the  machines, 
burned  the  workshops,  maltreated  the  innocent ;  a  cry  of  deserved 
condemnation  rose  in  the  ranks  of  the  bourgeoisie  ;  the  workingmen 
were  silent,  thunderstruck;  their  consciences  forbade  them  to 
applaud,  but  they  lacked  energy  to  condemn. 

"  Only  the  Internationals,  risking  their  growing  popularity, 
dared  to  raise  their  voices  to  condemn  energetically  such  remon 
strances,  and  in  a  public  letter  addressed  to  the  strikers  of  Rou 
baix,  they  thus  expressed  themselves  : 

"  WORKINGMEN  OF  ROUBAIX  : 

"  Whatever  may  be  your  just  grievances,  nothing  can  justify 
the  acts  of  destruction  of  which  you  have  been  guilty ;  consider 
that  machinery,  the  instrument  of  labor,  should  be  sacred  to  you  ; 
consider  that  such  violence  compromises  your  cause  and  that  of  all 


156  History  of  the  International. 

Let  us  see  now  how  they  expressed  themselves 
two  years  later,  in  circumstances  very  similar,  in 
the  official  publications  of  the  International. 


III.     STRIKE   OF    SERAING    IN    1869.  —  MANIFESTO    OF 
THE    GENERAL    BELGIAN    COUNCIL. 

;  ?;pnii  gr;f?/61Iot  ijrfj  rfjiw  I&tiobi 
The  2nd  of  April,  a  strike  burst  out  among  the 
puddlers  and  stokers  of  the  "  iron  manufactory  "'  of 
the  Cockerill  Society  of  Seraing.  The  principal 
motives  of  the  strike  were  the  claims  relative  to 
the  number  of  charges  or  heats  demanded  of  them 
in  a  day's  work,  and  the  discussions  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  the  length  of  this  day. 

After  some  conferences,  difficulties  seemed  set 
tled  by  means  of  concessions  made  on  both  sides, 
particularly  an  increase  of  wages,  and  the  readmis- 
sion  into  the  manufactory  of  a  workman  who  had 

laborers  ;  consider  that  you  have  just  furnished  arms  to  the  adver 
saries  of  liberty  and  the  calumniators  of  the  people. 

TOIJUN,  FRIBOURG,  VARLIN, 

Correspondents  of  Paris. 

u  The  workingmen  of  Paris  applauded  this  language,  and  the 
association  acquired  by  this  courageous  act  a  considerable  moral 
influence." 

We  see  that  M.  Fribourg  blamed  much  more  vigorously  in  1871, 
as  associate  editor  of  Le  Soir,  the  furious  lunatics  of  Roubaix, 
than  he  did  in  1867,  as  correspondent  of  the  Paris  section  of  the 
International.  We  see  particularly  that  he  singularly  reduced  the 
text  of  his  manifesto  to  the  workingmen  of  Roubaix,  and  that  he 
carefully  holds  back  all  the  passages  ill  which  he  did  wrong  in  flat 
tering  the  passions  of  these  furious  lunatics,  and  in  excusing  their 
crimes  by  throwing  the  responsibility  upon  the  intervention  of  the 
gendarmerie. 


History  of  Jhe  International.  157 

been  sent  away  a  little  while  before  for  an  act  of 
strike. 

No  disorder  had  taken  place  up  to  this  time,   " 

Le  Reveil  of  Seraing,  giving  an  account  of  this 
first  day  of  hostilities  at  the  time  in  which  peace 
was  thought  to  be  definitely  concluded,  closed  its 
recital  with  the  following  lines  : 

"  The  day  of  the  strike,  the  International  re 
ceived  250  adhesions :  it  received  them  on  condi 
tion  of  their  abstaining  from  all  violent  manifesta 
tions,  of  exposing  their  grievances  with  decorum, 
and  of  demanding  nothing  but  justice.  They  pro 
mised  this  unanimously,  and  have  kept  their  pro 
mise  :  upon  this  we  congratulate  them. 

We  will  see  presently  in  what  way  the  Interna 
tional  was,  in  truth,  the  jealous  observer  of  deco 
rum  and  especially  of  moderation. 

The  workmen  returned  to  their  work.  "  During 
four  days,"  says  L  Internationale  of  April  i8th, 
"  most  perfect  calm  reigned  in  the  manufactory.  It 
was  because  care  had  been  taken  to  remove  the 
hated  overseer.  The  workmen  believed  themselves 
already  freed  from  his  tyranny,  when  they  saw  him 
reappear  with  the  director,  who  declared  that  those 
who  were  not  satisfied  with  his  return  had  only  to 
go  elsewhere.  Immediately  all  the  puddlers  left 
work.  The  director  was  not  alarmed  ;  for  he  had 
not  wasted  his  time  during  these  four  days  of  tem 
porizing  ;  he  had  provided  iron  all  prepared  which 
permitted  him  to  do  without  the  puddlers.  The 
noble  conduct  of  the  workmen  frustrated  this  Jesu 
itical  manoeuvre  ;  the  stokers  and  the  flatteners 


158  History  of  the  International. 

declared  that  they  were  associated  in  the  lot  of  the 
puddlers,  and  the  iron  manufactory  of  M.  John 
Cockerill  was  deserted." 

In  this  recital,  borrowed  from  an  official  journal 
of  the  great  association,  we  can  easily  guess  what 
had  in  reality  transpired. 

The  International  wished  a  strike  of  the  puddlers  ; 
it  did  not  succeed  the  first  time,  and  the  workmen 
came  to  an  understanding  with  their  employer  ; 
but  it  had  its  revenge. 

The  return  of  this  hated  overseer  was  only  a  pre 
text,  for  in  the  account  of  Le  Reveil  of  Seraing, 
written  between  the  first  resumption  of  work  and 
its  new  interruption,  all  the  grievances  of  the  work 
men  are  complacently  enumerated  and  commented 
upon  at  length  ;  notwithstanding  there  is  no  allu 
sion  made  to  the  claims  against  any  overseer  what 
ever. 

But  this  time  the  International  succeeded  too 
completely.  It  had,  according  to  all  probability, 
desired  and  fomented  a  partial  strike ;  for  it  is  its 
interest  to  have  the  fewest  mouths  possible  to  feed. 
The  concessions  de'manded  by  the  workmen  on 
strike  once  wrested  from  their  employers,  they  are 
almost  always  imposed  without  contest  on  all  the 
other  heads  of  the  same  trade.  Nothing  is  more 
naturally  indicated  than  these  tactics  ;  and  we  have 
proof  that  this  is,  in  effect,-  the  system  habitually 
preferred  by  the  leaders  of  the  association.  "  I 
ought,"  writes  Varlin  to  Aubry,  October  8th,  1869, 
apropos  of  a  strike  at  Elbeuf,  "  I  ought  to  counsel 
you  to  prevent  the  extension  of  the  strike  to  other 


History  of  the  International.  159 

manufactories  in  the  environs  of  Elbeuf.  If  the 
employers  do  not  constrain  it,  let  the  workmen  have 
fatience  and  waif,  in  order  to  demand  the  tariff, 
^vh^ck  may  be  obtained  in  the  houses  actttally  on 
strike?* 

*  Are  new  proofs  desired  of  the  evil  which  the  simultaneousness 
of  important  strikes  did  to  the  International  ?  Let  one  read  the  fol 
lowing  passages  from  various  letters  of  Varlin  to  Aubry,  quoted  by 
the  imperial  advocate  in  the  third  trial  (audience  of  June  22nd,  1870.) 

PARIS,  NOVEMBER  4,  1869. 
"  MY  DEAR  AUBRY  : 

"  I  send  you  inclosed  800  francs,  of  which  300  francs  as 
second  loan  from  the  Society  of  Bronzers  and  500  francs  as  sub 
scriptions.  But  I  must  tell  ygu  with  regret  that,  for  this  week,  this 
is  all  that  I  can  send  you  ;  I  surpass  even  the  amount  of  subscrip 
tions  received  up  to  this  day. 

"  We  are  at  this  time  in  an  excessively  difficult  situation,  on  ac 
count  of  the  strike  of  the  leather-dressers,  which  has  become  gen 
eral  during  the  last  week  and  numbers  a  thousand  strikers.  The 
delegates  of  the  Paris  societies,  in  the  general  assemblies  of  the 
leather-dressers,  have  urged  to  a  general  strike  and  have  promised 
the  moral  and  material  aid  of  all  the  societies.  We  are  then,  all 
the  Paris  societies,  engaged  in  the  affair.  It  is  not  only  the  leather- 
dressers  who  fight  against  their  employers,  but  all  the  working- 
men's  societies  of  Paris. 

"  Now,  in  the  financial  situation  in  whiclf  we  find  ourselves  at 
this  moment,  we  must  make  a  supreme  effort :  also  I  have  not 
been  at  all  for  a  week  in  a  condition  to  obtain  loans,  and  I  do  not 
believe  it  possible  for  me  to  risk  new  demands  next  week.  As  for 
the  subscription,  one  has  been  opened  for  the  leather-dressers ; 
ours  will  be  stopped  now,  after  having  been  fettered  at  its  begin 
ning,  bv  that  in  favor  of  the  victims  of  Aubin.  In  view  of  the 
gravity  of  this  situation,  I  have  written  to  Brussels  and  to  Berlin, 
but  Brussels  does  not  respond  ;  meanwhile  my  letter  should  have 
arrived  eight  days  ago  already.  Have  they  written  to  you  ?  You 
say  nothing  to  me  of  it. 

"As  for  Berlin,  it  was  only  last  Monday  that  I  wrote  to  the  fed 
eration  of  the  workingmen's  societies  of  La  Salle  of  Germany.  I 


160  History  of  the  International. 

The  leaders  of  the  strike  of  Seraing  wished  to 
follow  this  system  which  ordinarily  succeeded  ;  but 
the  efforts  which  they  made  to  conduct  the  strike 
of  the  puddlers  had  also  caused  an  ebullition  of  the 
other  workmen,  little  understanding,  in  fact,  indus- 

supported  my  demand  through  the  section  of  democratic  German 
socialists  of  Paris :   I  hope  for  a  good  result,  but  that  can  not  be 

until  next  week. 

(Signed,)  E.  VARLIN." 

(    PARIS,  NOVEMBER  8,  1869. 
"  MY  DEAR  AUBRY  : 

"  I  am  obliged  to  write  you  a  few  words,  in  order  to  acquaint 
you  with  the  situation  in  which  we  find  ourselves  here,  and  to  warn 
you  in  time  that  you  cannot  count  upon  Paris  this  week,  that  you 
may  make  a  new  effort  among  the  other  sections  to  raise  the 
amounts  which  you  need. 

"  I  have  already  told  you  of  the  strike  of  the  leather-dressers  and 
of  the  difficult  situation  in  which  it  places  us. 

"  We  had  thought  that  the  strike  could  not  last  more  than  eight 
days  because  of  the  considerable  quantity  of  goods  in  manufacture 
(about  one  million),  and  which  must  be  completely  lost  if  it  remains 
in  suspense  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  at  the  most.  It  was  hoped 
that  the  employers  would  yield  if  the  first  payment  was  completely 
made,  for  the  employers  thought  that  they  would  not  find  the  sum 
in  four  days.  8,000  francs  were  needed ;  the  first  payment  has 
been  made,  but  the  employers  have  not  yielded  :  a  new  general  as 
sembly  of  the  leather-dressers,  new  assurances  from  the  delegates  ; 
then,  after  the  assembly,  reunion  of  the  delegates  for  consideration. 
There  was  needed  for  Sunday,  yesterday,  12,000  francs.  In  ordi 
nary  times  this  sum  would  be  raised  easily  enough,  but  to-day  the 
treasuries  are  exhausted.  However,  it  was  nearly  raised,  and  the 
payment  was  made  yesterday,  but  at  the  cost  of  some  effort  ! 

"To-day  we  are  preparing  for  the  payment  for  next  Sunday. 
The  societies  give  their  last  funds,  selling  their  last  stock  ;  the  subscrip 
tion  in  the  workshops  is  pushed  to  the  utmost,  and  to  turn  all  into 
money,  we  are  going  to  have  a  public  reunion  this  week  upon  the 
question  of  actual  strikes,  for  we  must  not  forget  that  besides  the 
leather-dressers  we  have  the  paint-brush  makers  on  strike  for  six 
weeks ;  the  canvass-weavers  for  eight  weeks  ;  the  wood-gilders  for 


History  of  M  International.  161 

trial  strategy.  "  Unfortunately,"  says  the  official 
journal  of  the  association,  "  the  workmen,  laboring 
in  the  Cockerill  coal  mines,  placed  themselves 
equally  on  strike,  in  spite  of  the  wise  recommenda 
tions  of  the  members  of  the  International  of  Se- 

a  fortnight,  and  all  the  wool  weavers  whom  we  do  not  absolutely 
forget.  If  some  of  our  strikes  terminate,  we  can  still  aid  you  ;  but 
you  must  see  that  at  this  time  all  our  efforts  are  for  Paris. 

"  Already,  several  times,  I  have  been  asked  if  it  were  not  possi 
ble  to  obtain  something  from  the  provinces  or  from  foreigners. 
But  I  replied  that  the  province  was  sustaining  you  ;  as  for  foreign- 
ers,  you  know  my  proceedings.  Up  to  to-day,  no  result. 

"(Signed,)  E.  VARLIN." 

PARIS,  NOVEMBER  16,  1869. 
"Mv  DEAR  AUBRY: 

"  I  send  you  enclosed  200  francs  of  a  subscription  which  I  have 
received  since  last  week. 

"  Our  situation  is  ever  the  same. 

"  The  leather-dressers'  strike  continues,  in  spite  of  the  consider 
able  losses  sustained  by  the  employers.  We  know  from  a  sure 
source  that  all  the  members  of  the  paternal  syndical  hide  and 
leather  chamber  have  united  to  sustain  this  strike,  that  is  to  say, 
that  they  indemnify  the  leather-dressers'  employers  for  the  losses 
which  they  undergo. 

"  It  hardly  seems  possible  to  us,  that  all  the  syndical  chambers  of 
employers,  which  compose  what  they  call  the  National  Union  of 
Commerce  and  Trade,  are  leagued  to  ruin  workingmen's  societies, 
by  making  them  exhaust  their  treasuries  by  several  interminable 
strikes,  for  we  have  never  had  one  of  this  length. 

"After  seven  weeks  of  contest,  the  paint-brush  makers  suc 
cumbed  last  week.  The  societies  which  had  at  first  sustained  them 
had  to  abandon  them  so  as  to  centralize  all  their  efforts  in  favor  of 
the  leather  dressers. 

Finally,  Varlin  writes  to  Aubry,  December  2nd  : 

"  We  have  already  paid  out  51,000  francs  for  the  leather-dressers, 
and  yet  since  the  first  week,  we  have  been  always  short  of  funds." 

The  manufacturers  who  wish  to  establish  a  serious  resistance 
against  the  International,  cannot  consider  too  much  these  Iptters 
^n4  all  those  of  the  same  kind  quoted  in  the  course  of  the  trial. 


1 62  History  of  the  International. 

raing,  who  endeavored  to  show  them  the  untimc- 
liness  of  this  measure.  Other  coal-mines  followed 
this  example,  among  others  that  of  LEspzrance. 
Until  this  time  nothing  mischievous  had  occurred ; 
but  the  lords  of  these  places,  who  become  mad 
with  fear  when  they  see  four  workmen  united,  (sign 
that  their  conscience  is  a  little  troubled),  brought 
the  troops,  and,  as  always,  they  brought  with  them 
disorder  and  massacre." 

We  have  seen  at  Roubaix,  in  1867,  what  evil  a 
misguided  crowd  can  do  in  a  few  hours,  when  there 
are  no  troops  at  hand.  As  soon  as  the  soldiers 
protect  'order,  the  rights  and  life  of  peaceable 
citizens,  they  are  butchers  hired  by  the  oppressors 
of  the  people. 

At  Seraing,  it  was  not  even  to  protect  the  manu 
factories  and  their  shops,  but  to  defend  themselves 
that  the  soldiers  were  constrained  to  use  their 
arms.  It  is  not  from  the  bourgeois  journals  that  we 
ask  the  proof  of  this,  but  from  L  Internationale 
itself;  for  the  truth  shows  itself  plainly  in  its 
recital  through  the  falsehoods  under  which  it  tried 
to  smother  it.  It  is  "  the  companion  Eugene 
Hins,"  one  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  associa 
tion  in  Belgium,  who  himself  relates  the  events  in 
the  official  sheet  of  the  society. 

"  On  Friday  evening,  a  numerous  mob  was  sta 
tioned  in  Cockerill  street.  Was  there  provocation 
on  the  part  of  the  mob  ?  Were  stones  thrown  at 
the  first?  We  do  not  know;  but  we  will  say 
that  if  the  troops  had  not  shown  themselves  very 
useless,  the  stones  would  not  have  been  thrown,  and 


History  of  the  International.  163 

afterwards  if,  -  among  some  hundreds  of  persons, 
some  rash  ones  threw  stones,  that  is  no  reason  for 
condemning  the  others. 

"  The  three  usual  summons  were  given.  Nothing 
so  odious  as  this  manner  of  assuming  an  appear 
ance  of  legality.  Can  a  compact  mob  thus  disperse 
in  a  few  minutes?  Then  the  people  do  not  yet 
believe  sufficiently  in  the  perversity  of  its  rulers, 
it  believes  always  that  their  threats  are  in  sport. 

"At  this  time  it  was  dark  night  (10  o'clock). 
Two  smoky  street-lamps  did  not  suffice  to  pierce 
the  darkness.  All  at  once  the  cavalry  moved 
forward  and  swept  through  the  middle  of  the  street, 
while  the  infantry,  crossing  bayonets,  ran  along 
the  sidewalks. 

"  Judge  of  the  carnage  which  must  be  made  in 
this  compact  crowd,  struck  before  having  been  able 
to  flee. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  the 
wounded,  but  it  must  have  been  very  considerable. 
As  for  the  dead,  two  are  reported  ;  but  how  many 
unfortunates  may  have  died  in  by-places  ! 

"  These  same  scenes  were  renewed  on  the  mor 
row  ;  they  have  been  related  to  me  by  two  victims." 

The  association  could  not  let  escape  so  happy  an 
occasion  for  making  new  recruits.  Thus  it  sums 
up  all  the  means  at  its  disposal : 

"  We  met  at  Lize,"  says  Eugene  Hins  in  the 
course  of  his  recital,  "  the  companions  Adrien  and 
Varlet,  arrived  from  Verviers,  who  sold  bravely,  in 
the  face  of  the  gendarmes,  the  accounts  of  the 
strike  of  Hodimont.  They  believed  with  reason 


164  History  of  the  International. 

that  the  dignified  attitude  held  by  the  workingmen 
of  Verviers,  in  this  circumstance,  would  exert  a 
happy  influence  over  the  workingmen  of  Seraing." 

The  delegates  of  the  International  of  Li£ge  and 
Brussels  took  counsel  with  those  of  Seraing,  and 
decided  that  they  must  hasten  to  call  a  meeting : 

"  A  considerable  crowd  answered  this  invitation. 
The  hall,  which  can  contain  from  a  thousand  to 
twelve  hundred  persons,  was  full.  The  companions 
Lepourgen  (of  Seraing),  Hins,  and  Adrien  had  the 
floor  and  after  having  pledged  the  workingmen 
present  not  to  yield  to  oppression,  they  showed 
them,  nevertheless,  that  they  ought  not  to  remain 
stationary,  but  labor  to  prepare  for  the  future  in 
the  heart  of  the  International." 

Other  companions  afterwards  spoke  in  the  same 
manner ;  after  which,  "  the  companions  Hins  and 
Lepourgen  encouraged  the  puddlers  to  yield  noth 
ing  of  their  just  claims,  but  exerted  themselves  to 
obtain  from  the  miners  a  promise  that  they  would 
return  to  work  on  the  morrow,  that  they  might  pro 
cure  resources  for  sustaining  their  brothers. 

"  If  they  did  not  wholly  succeed  in  the  sense 
that  the  workmen  of  the  Cockerill  trenches  de 
clared  that  they  would  persist,  at  least  the  workmen 
of  the  other  mines  promised  to  return  to  work  on 
the  morrow.  We  have  since  learned  that  they  kept 
their  promise,  a  very  important  result,  as  it  limited 
the  strike." 

From  the  account  even  of  the  official  journal  of 
the  association  it  is  easy  to  extricate  the  truth. 

The  strike,  without  doubt  fomented  and  ordered 


iftstory  of  the  International.  165 

by  the  International,  but  with  the  formal  design  of 
localizing  it  that  it  might  be  more  easily  sustained, 
broke  out  in  the  Cockerill  works. 

The  workmen  of  different  coal-mines  of  Seraing 
also  quitted  work,  in  spite  of  the  wish  of  the  Inter 
national,  which  did  not  desire  to  have  too  many 
mouths  to  feed  at  once,  for  fear  that  its  resources 
would  be  exhausted  before  the  victory  of  the 
strikers. 

The  increasing  excitement  of  the  population  of 
Seraing  obliged  the  Belgian  government  to  send 
troops  to  protect  life  and  property.  The  troops 
which  arrived  found  themselves  exposed  to  insults 
and  attacks,  which  obliged  them  to  thrust  back  the 
mob,  but  without  using  their  fire-arms. 

The  cavalry  made  some  charges  in  the  middle  of 
the  streets  ;  the  infantry  at  the  same  time  cleared 
the  sidewalks,  advancing  with  charged  bayonets. 

Two  workmen  were  killed  in  this  fray  ;  several 
persons  received  some  wounds  and  contusions 
more  or  less  serious. 

The  International  profits  by  these  events  for 
pushing  propagandism  more  actively  than  ever, 
scattering  its  pamphlets  and  uniting  in  meetings  the 
workingmen  excited  by  the  contest  against  their 
employers  and  the  conflicts  with  the  army. 

Then,  when  the  minds  were  thought  to  be  suffi 
ciently  inflamed  by  these  events,  by  these  speeches, 
by  these  meetings,  the  general  Belgian  council 
issues  the  following  address  "to  the  workingmen 
of  Seraing  and  its  environs :" 


i66  History  of  the  International. 

"  COMPANIONS  : 

"  At  all  times  g-iief  and  misery  have  been  the  destiny  of  the 
laborer  ;  at  all  times  the  people  have  groaned  in  the  presence  of 
their  masters'  joy,  have  been  hungry  in  thre  presence  of  the  satiety 
of  those  speculating  upon  them. 

"  But  man  is  so  made  that  he  becomes  accustomed  to  everything, 
even  to  the  severest  privations.  The  chain  continues  to  weigh 
upon  him,  but  he  bears  it  without  murmuring ;  he  has  lost  even 
the  sentiment  of  hatred ;  then,  he  is  truly  a  slave,  for  he  no  longer 
feels  the  disgrace  of  his  slavery. 

"  This,  companions,  is  the  unfortunate  state  into  which  many  of 
our  workingmen  are  actually /educed  ;  it  is  this  inertia  which  gives 
force  to  our  tyrants.  But  there  are  those  unfortunates,  pushed  to 
extremities,  who  having  until  then  suffered  without  murmuring, 
make  their  claims  heard.  Their  masters  are  astonished  at  such 
audacity ;  they  tremble  as  the  spirit  of  independence  spreads 
among  the  laboring  class,  and  in  order  to  stifle  this  monster  in  its 
cradle,  they  attack  with  sabres,  guns,  and  grape-shot.  But  now, 
there  happens  what  these  men  without  heart  could  not  prevent ;  it 
happens  instead  of  the  profound  silence  which  they  thought  would 
succeed  to  the  massacre,  that  indignant  clamors  arise  on  all  sides  ; 
that  hatred  awakens  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  they  are  there, 
upright,  raging,  ready  to  shake  off  their  chains. 

'•  Companions  of  Seraing,  as  during  three  whole  nights  the  sol 
diery  has  sabred  and  pierced,  often  without  any  provocation,  we 
raised  this  cry  of  indignation,  when  we  learned  of  your  wrongs  ; 
we  felt  hatred  taking  hold  of  us,  and  truly,  if  action  had  followed 
the  thought,  in  the  first  moment  we  would  have  desired  the  de 
struction  of  your  barbarous  exterminators. 

"  But,  companions,  when  reflection  had  succeeded  to  the  first 
movement  of  such  lawful  indignation,  we  found  ourselves  plunged 
in  another  current  of  ideas. 

"  How  many  times  the  workingmen,  driven  to  extremities,  have 
sworn  the  ruin  of  their  oppressors,  and,  after  a  fleeting  triumph, 
have  fallen  back  more  than  ever  into  slavery  ! 

"  It  is  not  sufficient  to  destroy,  one  must  rebuild,  and  one  can' 
not  build  in  a  day. 

"  Restrain  then,  a  moment,  companions,  your  lawful  indigna* 
tion,  and  do  not  reply  to  the  provocations  of  the  army. 

"  Consider  that  your  masters  would  ask  nothing  better  than  to 
see  you  answer  violence  by  violence,  so  as  to  have  a  pretext  for  still 


History   of   the  International. 

more  sanguinary  oppression.  Consider  that  your  brothers  of  other 
parts  of  the  country  have  not  yet  all  comprehended  the  necessity 
for  throwing  off  their  chains,  and  that  a  series  of  successive  revolts 
could  only  lead  to  a  series  of  successive  defeats. 

"  Consider  that,  even  when  all  the  workingmen  in  Belgium  have 
an  understanding  to  make  their  cause  triumph,  they  will  be  power 
less  as  long  as  in  the  large  states  of  Europe  despotism  shall  be  en 
throned  triumphant  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  its  victims. 

"  Consider,  finally,  that  the  revolt  leads  to  nothing ;  that  it  is 
necessary  that  the  revolution  be  prepared,  that  in  the  day  in  which 
it  shall  be  triumphant,  it  must  be  able,  almost  without  a  blow,  to 
substitute  a  new  order  of  things  in  the  place  of  the  former  order, 
which  is  no  longer  that  of  disorder. 

"  Therefore,  companions,  be  calm  ;  maintain  your  legitimate 
pretensions,  but  do  not  let  yourselves  be  led  into  violence.  Learn 
to  wait,  your  day  will  come. 

"  Join  en  masse  the  International  Association  of  workingmen ; 
there  you  will  learn  your  rights,  and  the  means  which  you 
must  employ  to  make  them  triumph ;  there  you  will  unite 
with  your  brothers  of  all  parts  of  the  country  and  of  the  whole 
world.  And,  when  all  the  workingmen's  forces  shall  be  united  and 
instructed  as  to  what  they  are  to  do,  on  that  day,  from  all  points  of 
the  world  at  once,  the  workingmen  will  make  their  voice  heard, 
which  will  make  iniquity  totter  and  inaugurate  justice.  On  that 
day,  companions,  we  will  no  longer  say  to  you,  Be  calm  ;  we  will 
shout  to  you,  Forward  ! 

"  Until  then,  be  patient  and  await  your  time. 

"THE  GENERAL  BELGIAN  COUNCIL. 
"  BRUSSELS,  APRIL  13711,  1869." 

It  suffices  to  compare  this  document  with  that 
which  we  quoted  several  pages  previous,  in  order  to 
see  how  the  passions  had  developed  in  two  years  in 
the  International. 

In  1867,  the  correspondents  of  the  Paris  sections 
without  doubt  excited  with  all  their  might  their  as 
sociates  against  the  employers  and  against  the  gov 
ernment,  but  while  spreading  out  before  them  ideas 


ffistory  of  the  International. 

false  and  violent,  they  nevertheless  recommended 
moderation  in  their  actions.  In  1869,  the  general 
Belgian  council  promised  its  faithful  servants  that 
they  very  soon  would  have  the  power  all  to  them 
selves,  that  they  would  be  the  masters  of  society,  and 
if  it  exhorted  them  still  to  have  patience,  it  was  only 
in  order  that  when  the  moment  came,  they  could  with 
an  irresistible  force  and  without  danger  for  them 
selves,  give  society  the  final  blow. 

If  we  cannot  praise  either  the  ideas  or  the  senti 
ments  of  the  authors  of  this  proclamation,  we  must 
at  least  take  their  frankness  kindly. 

We  must  in  finishing  this  account  repeat  what  we 
said  in  commencing  it. 

If  we  have  described  the  strike  of  Roubaix  and 
that  of  Seraing  rather  than  any  other,  it  is  not  be 
cause  they  differed  from  others  in  anything,  but 
because  we  wished  to  show  by  two  examples  the 
most  common  incidents,  the  most  frequent  episodes 
of  these  sad  industrial  wars. 

There  are  scarcely  any  years  in  which  we  do  not 
find  a  certain  number  of  these  large  strikes  which 
agitate  whole  populations,  which  starve  the  working- 
men  by  thousands,  which  threaten  with  complete 
ruin  a  number  more  or  less  considerable  leaders  of 
trade,  and  which  too  often  lead  to  bloody  conflicts 
between  the  strikers  who  have  become  insurgents 
and  the  army  called  to  protect  the  life  and  the  pro 
perty  of  the  citizens, 

Aubin  and  La  Ricamarie  have  left  a  mournful  re 
membrance,  because  the  chassepot  which  had  al 
ready  "  done  wonders  "  at  Mentana,  according  to  the 


History   of   the  international.  169 

unfortunate  expression  of  General  Failly,  made  then 
its  first  appearance  in  civil  troubles,  and  its  effects 
were  terrible  ;  but  aside  from  these  details  interest 
ing  for  a  history  of  fireworks  or  the  families  of  the 
victims,  the  strikes  of  Aubin  and  La  Ricamarie 
were  not  more  remarkable  than  those  of  Roubaix 
and  Seraing,  than  fifty  or  a  hundred  strikes  that  we 
might  just  as  well  have  chosen. 

Let  us  add  also  that  the  intervention  of  the  bay 
onet  and  the  chassepot  is  happily  needless  ordinarily, 
and  that  the  largest  number  of  strikes,  even  those 
which  caused  the  most  damage  to  the  two  belliger 
ent  parties  were  terminated  without  shedding  of 
blood. 

But,  since  1854,  few  have  been  seen  which  have 
terminated  without  bringing  adherents  to  the  Inter 
national  by  hundreds  or  thousands, 

8 


CHAPTER  I-X. 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  EMPIRE. 

I.  THE  PARTIES  IN  1864. — THE  REVOLUTIONARY 
PARTY  :  THE  JACOBINS  AND  THE  SOCIALISTS. — 
THE  FOUNDERS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  DECIDE 
THAT  THE  ASSOCIATION  SHALL  REMAIN  A 
STRANGER  TO  POLITICS. 

At  the  time  in  which  the  International  was 
founded,  the  Empire  was  still  in  all  its  power,  and 
although  the  fatal  war  of  Mexico  had  created  al 
ready  very  serious  difficulties  for  it,  it  was  scarcely 
possible  to  foresee  then  to  what  a  deep  and  irre 
mediable  fall  the  weight  of  its  faults  would  drag  it 
clown,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years. 

No  one  of  the  parties  which  fought  against  it 
seemed  at  that  time  to  have  serious  chances  of  suc 
cess  ;  no  one  of  them  especially  shared  the  passions 
and  aspirations  of  the  founders  of  the  new  society. 

The  Legitimist  party,  composed  almost  exclu 
sively  of  large  proprietors,  equally  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  church  and  to  those  of  the  monarchy, 
almost  as  hostile  to  democracy  as  to  demagogism, 
was  naturally  still  more  opposed  than  the  Bona- 
partists  themselves  to  the  guests  of  the  banquet  of 
Saint  Martin's  Hall,  and  to  the  delegates  assembled 
at  Geneva. 

The  Orleanists  had  without  doubt  very  little  taste 
for  the  Empire,  which  regarded  them,  not  without 


History  of  the  International.  ift 

reason,  as  its  most  dangerous  enemies  ;  but  if  they 
were  friends  for  the  most  part  of  the  liberties  which 
the  socialist  claimed  loudly  in  ordinary  times,  re 
serving  their  suppression  until  they  thought 
themselves  strongest,  they  held  also  very  energet 
ically  to  order ;  they  were  very  decided  never  to 
sacrifice  one  of  the  grand  principles  without  which 
modern  society  could  not  exist.  Moreover,  they 
nearly  all  belonged  to  the  elite  of  liberal  profession, 
to  the  most  enlightened,  most  active,  most  industrious 
and  richest  bourgeoisie,  to  what  was  most  honorable 
and  most  intelligent  in  the  financial  and  industrial 
world,  that  is  to  say,  to  all  the  social  categories 
which  the  growing  association  regarded  with  the 
most  envy  and  hate. 

Finally,  there  existed  a  party  which  seemed  at 
first  a  natural  ally  of  the  International,  the  repub 
lican  party,  but  neither  of  the  two  different  parts  of 
which  it  was  composed  had  much  more  attraction 
for  it  than  the  other. 

The  moderate  Republicans,  those  whom  the  most 
advanced  call  formalist  Republicans,  that  is  to  say, 
those  who  were  on  marvellously  good  terms  with 
the  liberal  conservative  party,  as  soon  as  the  word 
republic  had  been  substituted  for  the  word  monarchy 
in  the  name  of  the  government,  very  naturally  were 
kindled  by  the  same  distrust  or  rather  by  the  same 
aversion  against  the  practical  socialists  of  the  new 
society  as  the  Orleanists. 

The  extreme  Republicans,  on  the  contrary,  Jaco 
bins,  Montagnards,  Hebertistes  and  Babouvistes, 
Radicals,  eternally  irreconcilable,  whom  no  change 


tiistory  of  the  International. 

satisfied,  who  must  belong  to  a  conspiracy  or  die, 
who  love  revolution  for  the  sake  of  revolution  as 
the  Romanticists  of  1830  loved  art  "  for  the  sake  of 
art : "  these  everlastingly  furious  men  who  could 
not  accommodate  themselves  any  more  easily  to 
the  provisional  government  of  February  24th  than 
to  that  of  Charles  X.  or  of  Louis  Philippe,  who  ex 
ecrated  the  Constituante  of  1 848  as  much  as  the 
undiscoverable  chamber  of  1816,  and  saw  in  General 
Cavaignac,  a  direct  successor  of  "  Polignac  ; "  these 
men  ought,  it  seemed,  to  be  very  dear  to  the  Inter 
national  ;  and  no  one  would  be  astonished  to  see 
these  two  parties  form  a  close  alliance  for  making 
the  attack  upon  society,  reserving  the  right  to  dis 
agree  on  the  morrow  of  the  victory.  However, 
this  union,  which  seemed  made  before  having  been 
proposed,  was  on  the  contrary  almost  impossible, 
thanks  to 'the  difficulties  of  character  common  to 
the  two  parties  called  to  form  it. 

The  very  essence  of  the  demagogic  mind,  is  dis 
trust.  M.  About,  in  one  of  his  prettiest  stones, 
describes  an  old  soldier,  who  had  been  dead  fifty 
years,  whom  a  savant  resuscitated  by  a  process  of 
his  own  invention.  The  first  idea  of  this  brave 
officer  on  coming  to  life  was  to  call  for  his  newspaper. 
If  the  man  with  the  broken  ear  had  been  a  good  re 
volutionist,  a  true  pure,  his  first  cry  would  have 
been  ;  "  We  are  betrayed  !  "  The  Internationals 
are  almost  Jacobins  in  this  respect ;  this  disposition 
common  to  both  parties  already  rendered  harmony 
difficult  between  them. 

Moreover,  they  were  separated  by  still  another 


History  of  the  International.  173 

barrier :  almost  all  the  Jacobins  are  waifs  from  the 
middle  classes,  and  the  perfume  of  the  demagogism 
which  they  exhaled  was  spoiled  for  the  nose  of  a 
true  International  by  I  know  not  what  odor  of 
bourgeoisie.  The  veritable  socialists  condemned 
Louis  XVI.  and  Robespierre  to  the  same  execution, 
the  one  as  chief  of  the  aristocracy,  and  the  other  as 
leader  of  the  "  bourgeois  reaction." 

It  is  true  that  the  Jacobins,  the  Pures,  could 
neither  say  to  the  others,  nor  acknowledge  to  them 
selves,  that  they  only  conspired  for  the  love  of  con 
spiracy,  that  they  raised  barricades  for  the  pleasure 
which  the  sight  of  stones  piled  up  gave  them,  and 
that  they  invoked  civil  war  because  of  the  lively 
satisfaction  which  they  experienced  in  hearing  the 
roll  of  the  drums  and  the  rattling  of  the  firing. 
Consequently,  they  were  obliged  to  adopt  and  pub 
lish  a  programme,  and  their  programme  does  not  dif 
fer  sensibly,  at  least  to  the  eye  of  a  bourgeois,  from 
that  of  a  member  of  the  International.  It  was  not 
enough  for  them  to  demand  a  republic,  they  wished 
it  to  be  democratic,  it  need  not  be  said,  and  social 
into  the  bargain,  as  they  call  themselves  socialists 
just  like  the  others  ;  but  the  others  felt  that  this 
was  only  a  concession  to  opinion,  and  that  this  so 
cialism  was  not  proof  against  everything. 

The  organ  of  the  International  at  Geneva, 
L Egalitiy  was  not  deceived  by  it. 

"  Propagandism  interested,  and  at  the  highest  point 
corrupter  of  priests,  governments,  and  all  political 
bourgeois  parties,  without  excepting  the  extreme 
Reds,  has  spread  a  mass  of  false  ideas  among  the 


1/4  History  of  the  International. 

laboring  masses,  and  these  blind  masses  become 
impassioned  unfortunately  too  often  by  means  of 
falsehoods  which  have  no  end  ^but  to  make  them 
serve  voluntarily  and  stupidly,  the  interests  of  pri 
vileged  classes  to  the  detriment  of  their  own. 

"The  slavery  and  misery  of  the  people  will  always 
remain  the  same  as  long  as  the  popular  masses  con 
tinue  to  serve  as  instruments  to  the  bourgeois  policy, 
so  long  as  this  policy  is  called  conservative,  lib 
eral,  progressive,  radical,  and  even  when  it  as 
sumes  the  most  revolutionary  manners  of  the  world. 
For  every  bourgeois  policy,  whatever  may  be  its 
color  or  its  name,  can  only  have  at  bottom  one  end  : 
the  maintenance  of  bourgeois  domination  ;  and  the 
bourgeois  domination,  is  the  slavery  of  the  prole 
tariat." 

Thus,  all  the  parties  which  it  found  organized 
were  equally  objects  of  suspicion  or  hatred  to  the 
International,  and  it  was  as  difficult  for  it  to  decide 
to  unite  with  one  as  with  another. 

These  were  motives  serious  enough  to  induce  the 
association  to  abstain  from  mixing  itself  up  in  polit 
ical  questions.  Other  considerations  which  they 
could  not  develop  in  their  journals  or  their  meet 
ings,  remained  still  to  compel  the  leaders  to  advise 
and  even  at  the  first  to  command  this  wise  absti 
nence. 

As  we  have  just  related,  the  empire  was  or  rather 
seemed  very  strong.  Without  the  connivance  or  at 
least  the  tolerance  of  the  imperial  government,  it 
was  almost  impossible  for  the  association  to  develop 
itself  seriously  in  France.  Now,  the  Emperor  had 


History  of  the  International.  175 

been  proclaimed,  it  is  true,  for  fear  of  socialism,  and 
if  the  author  of  the  2nd  of  December  had  been 
permitted  to  suppress  all  liberty,  it  was  because  he 
had  promised  to  profit  by  this  unlimited  authority 
to  overwhelm  socialism  ;  but  he  failed  as  completely 
in  this  engagement  as  in  those  which  he  had  under 
taken  against  the  king  Louis-Philippe  and  against 
the  republic.     The  decree  of  February  I7th,  which 
submitted  the  press  to  the  most  absolute  control, 
served  only  to  protect  the  personal  interests  of  the 
members  of  the  imperial  family  and  of  the  princi 
pal  personages  of  the  state  at  the  same  time  as  the 
financial  interests  of  the  highest  placed  stock-job 
bers  and  the  least  scrupulous  speculators ;  but  they 
cared  very  little  to  defend  the  society  which  they  had 
sworn  to  save,  and  the  Emperor,  who  had  a  great 
love  for  all  innovations,  did  not  deny  a  certain  lean 
ing  toward  social  reforms. 

In  such  a  situation,  to  incur  from  the  first  his  ill 
will,  then  all  powerful,  by  declaring  itself  friendly 
to  the  republic,  would  have  been  the  most  marked 
madness  on  the  part  of  the  founders  of  the  associa 
tion.  On  the  other  hand,  to  seek  his  protection, 
and  his  favors  at  the  cost  of  an  official  adhesion  to 
the  empire,  or  even  more  simply,  by  means  of  some 
flatteries  more  or  less  delicate,  or  some,  electoral 
compliances,  could  not  be  thought  of,  for  all  the  ad 
herents,  fanatically  hostile  to  the  empire,  because  it 
was  the  established  government,  would  have  de 
serted  the  new  society  en  masse  after  the  first  steps 
taken  in  this  course  by  its  leaders. 

Accordingly,  only  one  thing  was  possible  :  to  lay 


176  History  of  the  International. 

down  the  principle  of  the  preeminence  of  social 
questions  over  political  questions  and  to  declare 
that  they  would  hold  themselves  absolutely  aloof 
from  all  politics :  this  is  what  was  done,  and  they 
remained  so  very  faithful  to  this  programme  during 
the  earlier  days,  that  the  ministers  of  the  empire, 
hoping  always  to  gain  this  growing  power  by  some 
favors,  had  the  simplicity  to  permit  it  to  develop  in 
all  freedom  during  the  time  when  it  would  have 
been  possible  to  crush  it; 

The  statesmen  of  the  empire  disdained,  as  a 
proof  of  narrowness  of  mind,  a  policy  upright  and 
loyal  and  faithful  to  its  engagements.  They  con 
sidered  themselves  profound  politicians,  when  they 
put  Prussia  at  enmity  with  Austria  in  order  to 
seize  the  Rhenish  provinces  when  once  the  two  ad 
versaries  should  have  exhausted  themselves  ;  they 
regarded  themselves  as  little  Machiavellis  when 
they  let  the  International  increase  in  order  to  make 
use  of  it  against  the  botirgeoisie  always  enamored  of 
liberty  and  control.  The  Emperor  could  appreci 
ate  September  2d  at  Sedan,  and  the  Empress 
September  4th  at  Paris,  the  usefulness  of  this 
grand  policy,  so  disdainful  of  the  precepts  of  the 
petty  bourgeois,  honesty. 

But  let  us  return  to  our  actual  subject,  to  the 
history  of  the  relations  of  the  International  with 
the  empire,  and  with  the  various  divisions  of  the 
revolutionary  party. 


History  of  the  International.  177 


II.  FIRST  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  INTERNATIONAL 
AND  THE  IMPERIAL  GOVERNMENT. — M.  ROUHER 
SOLICITS  AN  INTERVIEW. — HE  ASKS  COMPLIMENTS 

FOR  THE  EMPEROR. THE  INTERNATIONAL  MAKES 

OVERTURES    TO    THE    JACOBINS. FIRST    HOSTILI 
TIES. MANIFESTATION       ON      THE      BOULEVARD 

MONTMARTRE. RUPTURE      WITH     THE     DEPUTIES 

OF     THE    SEINE. — FIRST    AND    SECOND    TRIAL     OF 
THE    INTERNATIONAL. 

As  soon  as  the  plan  of  the  association  was  de 
cided  upon  at  London  in  1864,  the  organizers  were 
eager  to  open  at  Paris,  as  we  have  already  said, 
a  "  bureau  of  correspondence  "  and  to  invite  "  the 
workingmen  "  to  adhere  to  the  provisory  statutes. 
u  But,"  says  M.  Murat  in  his  defense  before  the 
Imperial  Court  of  Paris,  (audience  of  April  22cl,) 
"  the  Paris  correspondents,  members  o*f  the  general 
council  sitting  at  London,  did  not  think  themselves 
obliged  to  ask  authorization  ;  they  did  not  create 
an  association  in  the  interior,  they  invited  adhe 
sions  to  an  international  association,  having  its  seat 
in  a  foreign  country  ;  they  then  simply  made, — in 
order  to  attest  that  they,  nevertheless,  intended  to 
assume  all  the  responsibility  of  the  acts  of  this 
association  at  Paris, — a  declaration  to  the  prefect  of 
the  police  and  one  to  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
of  the  opening  of  the  bureau  ;  they  inclosed  a  copy 
of  the  provisory  statutes  drawn  up  at  the  meeting 
at  London." 

The  prefect  and  the  minister  received  the  declar- 
8* 


178  History  of   the  International. 

ation  and  responded  neither  by  a  formal  prohibi 
tion  nor  a  regular  authorization.  "  If,"  continues 
M.  Murat,  ."after  the  declarations  made  to  the 
administrative  authorities  and  the  police,  the  corre 
spondents  had  received  notice,  as  had  happened  in 
other  cases,  that  this  was  not  sufficient ;  that  an 
express  authorization,  as  the  court  says,  was  necas- 
sary,  they  would  have  thought  of  another  manner 
of  proceeding  ;  but,  let  us  say  it  boldly,  they  never 
could  have  brought  themselves  to  the  idea  of  sub 
mitting  to  the  humiliation  of  authorization." 

The  government,  on  its  side,  adduced  considera 
tions  of  the  highest  order  for  explaining  the  ex 
pectant  attitude  which  it  had  at  first  taken  towards 
the  growing  society,  then  the  rigorous  measures  to 
which  it  at  last  decided  to  have  recourse. 

We  have  a  right,  to-day,  to  seek,  under  the  lofty 
phrases  of  both  parties,  the  real  motive  of  their 
conduct ;  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover,  and  we  have 
already  exposed  it.  The  empire  hoped  either  to 
find  in  the  association  founded  at  Saint  Martin's 
Hall  a  support  against  the  bourgeoisie,  or  to  make 
use  of  it  as  a  bug-bear  to  check  the  liberal  aspira 
tions  which  already  began  to  burst  out  everywhere 
in  the  middle  classes ;  the  leaders  of  the  Interna 
tional  guessed,  perhaps,  this  policy,  saw  in  every 
case  the  good  intentions,  which,  for  one  reason  or 
another  were  felt  towards  them,  and  hastened  to 
profit  by  them,  glad  to  escape,  at  the  time  when 
they  were  yet  feeble  and  isolated,  a  contest  in 
which  their  society  might  perish. 

However,  it  was  impossible  to  remain  thus  ever- 


History  of   the  International.  179 

lastingly  under  observation.  "  The  growing  power 
of  the  International,  which  showed  itself  in  the 
strikes  of  Roubaix,  Amiens,  Paris,  Geneva,  etc.," 
(says  the  report  of  the  general  council  at  the  con 
gress  of  Brussels,)  "  put  the  government  to  the 
necessity  of  absorbing  or  destroying  it.  The  empire 
chose,  at  first,  to  be  satisfied  with  little.  The  man 
ifesto  of  the  Parisians  read  at  the  Geneva  congress, 
having  been  stopped  on  the  French  frontier,  our 
bureau  of  Paris  demanded  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior  the  motives  for  this  seizure.  M.  RouJicr 
solicited  an  interview  in  which  he  consented  to 
authorize  the  admission  of  the  manifesto."  But  he 
consented  on  condition  that  some  modifications 
should  be  made  ;  on  the  refusal  of  the  Paris  members, 
he  added  :  "  However,  if  you  will  return  a  few  thanks 
in  the  address  to  the  Emperor,  who  has  done  so  much 
for  the  laboring  classes,  we  will  see."  "  These 
words  excited  in  the  congress,"  we  quote  the  author 
of  the  account  which  we  have  before  our  eyes,  a 
"  general  hilarity."  M.  Eugene  Dupont,  the  re 
porter,  adds  immediately  :  "  The  sub-Emperor,  M. 
Rouher,  made  this  his  condition,"  and  this  phrase 
was  received  with  "  prolonged  applause." 

In  spite  of  the  prudence  of  both  opponents,  war 
became  inevitable.  Certain  incidents  did  not  hin 
der  its  bursting  out.  The  old  revolutionary  party, 
of  which  Mazzini,  Garibaldi,  Blanqui,  and  Ledru- 
Rollin,  were  the  gods,  saw  with  distrust  the  founding 
of  the  International ;  it  was  naturally  thought  that 
the  newcomers  were  the  traitors.  When  it  heard 
them  declare  that  they  would  abstain  from  handling 


i8o  History  of   the  International. 

politics  properly  so-called,  it  cried  "  treason  "  more 
loudly,  and  these  cries  disquieted  a  sufficiently 
large  number  of  the  members  of  the  International, 
divided  between  their  revolutionary  instincts  and 
their  social  instincts.  The  prudence  of  the  leaders 
which  preserved  them  from  prosecutions  from  above, 
exposed  them  to  all  the  suspicions  from  below.  The 
official  subsidies  which  had  facilitated  their  journey 
to  London  in  1862,  were  condemned  with  violence : 
it  was  remarked  with  sharpness  that  no  one  of  them 
had  been  compromised  in  the  affair  of  the  coffee 
house  of  La  Renaissance  which  had  sent  to  prison 
for  several  months  Protot,  Tridon,  Landowski,  Vil- 
leneuve,  Jeunesse,  and  the  flower  of  the  Jacobin 
demagogy  (January,  1867) :  also  the  entire  mass  of 
the  adherents  of  the  International  began  to  be  dis 
quieted,  and  exerted  upon  its  chiefs  a  pressure 
more  and  more  strong  to  induce  them  to  affirm  the 
democratic  principles  of  the  association. 

In  1867,  the  congress  of  Lausanne  voted  energetic 
resolutions  against  the  war.  Now,  at  the  very  same 
time,  in  Geneva,  that  is  to  say,  only  a  few  leagues 
from  the  city  where  the  International  was  holding 
its  sittings,  the  other  division  of  the  demagogic 
party,  under  the  pretext  of  forming  a  congress  of 
peace,  declared  war  against  all  tyrants,  all  oppressors 
of  the  people,  and  thanks  to  the  exploits  of  the 
orators  who  were  hardly  agreed  among  themselves, 
the  electoral  palace  where  these  meetings  were 
held,  became  each  day  more  and  more  worthy  of 
its  picturesque  surname  of  box  on  the  ears. 

In  spite  of  mutual  suspicions,  the  members  of 


History  of  the  International.  181 

the  two  congresses  were  made  to  understand  each 
other ;  they  closed  by  uniting  in  the  city  which  M. 
Rouher  called  the  city  of  lakes.  There,  Gustave 
Chaudey,  the  future  victim  of  robbers  some  of  whom 
sketched  there  with  him  the  plans  of  perpetual 
peace,  called  the  vote  of  congress  of  Lausanne,  and 
proposed  aloud  from  the  rostrum  a  compact  in  vir 
tue  of  which  the  workingmen  should  aid  the  bour 
geois  in  recovering  political  liberty,  while  the  bour 
geoisie  in  return  should  cooperate  in  the  economic 
enfranchisement  of  the  proletariat. 

The  congress  of  peace  closed,  amidst  the  roars  of 
laughter  of  all  Europe,  by  a  grand  melee  and  a 
Homeric  exchange  of  International  cuffs. 

However,  in  spite  of  these  blows  with  the  fist,  or, 
perhaps,  thanks  to  them,  a  reconciliation  was 
effected  between  the  bourgeois  demagogy  and  the 
laboring  demagogy,  and  if  we  may  believe  M.  Fri- 
bourg,  it  was  in  virtue  of  this  alliance  that  the  In 
ternational  took  part  in  two  revolutionary  manifes 
tations,  which  took  place  about  six  weeks  later,  one 
November  2nd,  at  the  tomb  of  Manin,  in  the  Mont- 
martre  cemetery,  and  the  other  the  next  day  but  one 
on  the  boulevard  Montmartre  to  protest  against  the 
occupation  of  Rome  by  the  French  troops. 

M  Fribourg  deceives  himself  if  he  supposes  that 
his  friends  and  he  could  have  prevented  the  mass  of 
their  army  from  taking  part  in  these  tumults  ;  by 
opposing  them,  they  would  only  have  lost  all  their 
authority  over  them  ;  it  is  always  the  application  of 
the  famous  saying :  as  they  were  its  leaders  they 
had  to  follow. 


1 82  History  of  the  International. 

The  deputies  of  the  Seine,  although  a  large  part 
of  their  electors  belonged  to  these  two  division  of 
the  revolutionary  party,  abstained  from  going  to 
what  M.  Fribourg  calls  "  the  rendezvous  given  by 
the  militant  democracy."  Their  absence  excited 
deep  indignation  in  the  ranks  of  the  manifestants. 

The  members  of  the  International  drew  up  a  sort 
of  ultimatum  for  these  honorable  deputies,  whom 
they  pretended  to  make  their  puppets,  and  sum 
moned  them  to  hand  in  their  resignation,  in  order, 
they  said,  to  enable  the  Paris  electors  to  express 
themselves  energetically  against  the  Roman  ques 
tion. 

The  deputies  had  sufficient  respect  for  themselves 
and  their  constituents  not  to  obey  this  insolent 
and  absurd  summons,  and  doubtless  more  than  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  demagogic  party  who  publicly 
expressed  astonishment  at  them,  desired  at  the  bot 
tom  of  their  hearts  this  independence  which  was 
forbidden  to  themselves. 

The  organizers  of  the  association  had  been  led, 
in  spite  of  themselves,  to  declare  war  against  the 
empire.  The  government  decided  to  take  up  the 
gauntlet.  The  houses  of  some  of  the  leaders  were 
searched,  but  at  none  of  them  were  proofs  found  of 
their  participation  in  political  intrigues  or  conspira 
cies.  They  ceased  then  to  treat  the  International 
as  a  secret  society,  and  contented  themselves  with 
prosecuting  the  members  of  the  committee  of  the 
Paris  bureau,  as  having  belonged  to  an  unauthorized 
society. 

The  accused  were  fifteen  in  number  :  Chemale 


History  of   the  International.  183 

(Felix-Eugene),  aged  twenty-nine  years,  architect ; 
Tolain  (Henri-Louis),  thirty-nine  years,  chiseller  ; 
Heligon  (Jean-Pierre),  thirty-four  years,  printer  of 
paper  hangings  ;  Camelinat  (Remy-Zephyrin), 
twenty-seven  years,  worker  in  bronze ;  Murat 
(Andre-Pierre),  thirty-five  years,  engineer  ;  Perra- 
chon  (Joseph-Etienne),  worker  in  bronze  ;  Four- 
naise  (Joseph),  forty  years,  maker  of  mathematical 
instruments ;  Gauthier  (Pierre-Michel),  forty-one 
years,  jeweler  ;  Dauthier  (Oresime-Irenee),  thirty 
years,  saddler;  Bellamy  (Jean-Victor),  thirty-five 
years,  turner ;  Gerardin  (Francois-Eugene),  forty 
years,  house-painter  ;  Bastien  (Jean-Pierre),  forty- 
five  years,  corset-maker  ;  Guyard  (Victor-Francois), 
thirty-eight  years,  worker  in  bronze  ;  Delahaye 
(Pierre-Louis),  forty-eight  years,  machinist ;  De- 
lorme  (Jean),  thirty-six  years,  shoemaker. 

The  trial,  brought  before  the  sixteenth  chamber, 
occupied  two  audiences,  those  of  March  6th  and 
2Oth,  1868.  The  greatest  precautions  were  taken 
in  these  proceedings,  and  although  there  were 
found  in  the  private  papers  of  the  accused  mem 
bers,  sinister  threats  against  those  functionaries  of 
whom  they  thought  they  had  reason  to  complain,* 
there  were  reserved  for  the  enemies  of  social  order 


*  "  As  for  the  note  books,  regulations,  statutes  which  you  sent 
me,  I  have  received  none  of  them.  Vandal,  without  doubt,  would 
have  acted  in  this  ma'ter,  for  it  is  beyond  the  functions  of  the  min 
ister.  We  will  have  our  revenge.  Vandal,  you  may  be  sure  we 
will  not  forget  you."  (Extract  from  a  letter  of  one  named  Lecluze 
to  Chemale,  one  of  the  accused  ;  extract  quoted  in  the  prosecutor's 
speech.) 


184  History  of   the  International. 

some  considerations  which  there  was  a  reluctance 
to  use  against  writers  suspected  of  preferring  a 
moderate  republic  or  a  constitutional  monarchy  to 
the  empire.  The  imperial  advocate  cbmmenced  by 
declaring,  in  the  most  insinuating  of  introductions, 
that  "  his  word,  always  impartial,  would  this  time 
have  to  make  no  effort  to  remain  calm,  I  was  about 
to  say  kmdly,"  towards  the  accused.  Tolain  de 
fended  his  comrades  and  himself  with  a  certain 
moderation.  The  tribunal,  presided  over  by  the 
celebrated  M.  Delesvaux,  showed  itself  as  "  kindly  " 
as  the  prosecutor,  and,  while  declaring  the  "  Inter 
national  association  of  workingmen  established 
under  the  name  of  the  bureau  of  Paris  "  dissolved, 
he  contented  himself  with  imposing  on  each  of  the 
accused  a  fine  of  100  francs. 

This  sentence,  excepted  to  by  the  condemned, 
was  confirmed  April  22d  by  the  imperial  court, 
after  a  long  speech  by  Murat,  who  himself  pre 
sented  his  defense  and  that  of  his  comrades.  Their 
petition  in  appeal  was  rejected  November  I2th. 

The  association  had  waited  neither  the  sentence 
of  the  Supreme  court,  nor  that  of  the  Imperial 
court,  nor  even  the  primary  judgment,  to  assume 
the  part  of  treating  as  a  dead  letter  the  absolutely 
certain  condemnation  which  awaited  it.  From  Mar. 
8th,  a  second  committee  was  nominated,  in  which, 
says  M.  Fribourg,  "  the  members  were  constrained 
to  introduce  a  very  strong  party  of  liberal  Com 
munists"  and  which  "  it  believed  would  emphasize 
the  political  tendency  of  the  Paris  workingmen." 

We  do  not  know  in  what  respect  the  Communists 


History  of  the  International.  185 

of  whom  M.  Fribourg  speaks  were  liberal ;  still  it 
is  true  that  it  was  not  long  before  they  in  their 
turn  became  objects  of  the  public  prosecution. 
May  22d,  M.  Delesvaux  saw  the  second  committee 
come  before  him,  about  two  months  after  he  had 
condemned  the  first. 

The  accused  were  nine  in  number.  They  were 
Varlin,  Malon,  Humbert,  Granjon,  Bourdon,  Char- 
bonneau,  Combault,  Landrin,  and  Mollin.  Like- 
their  predecessors,  they  continued  to  defend  them 
selves,  only  they  did  it  with  much  more  violence,  and 
declared  themselves  loudly,  republicans  and  Com 
munists.  It  was  Varlin  who  played  in  the  second 
trial  before  the  police  magistrate  the  role  which 
Tolain  played  in  the  first  ;  only  he  showed  himself 
as  passionate  and  as  revolutionary  as  the  defender 
of  the  association  in  the  first  affair  had  shown  him 
self  calm  and  sensible.  M.  Fribourg  says  that  the 
International  believed  itself  under  the  necessity  of 
giving  pledges  to  the  political  Jacobins.  It  seems 
to  us  that  it  submitted  in  all  simplicity  to  the 
fatal  law  which  invincibly  carries  away  demagogism  ; 
the  influence  having  escaped  from  the  moderate 
patty,  the  most  violent  and  most  crazy  inherited  it. 
Each  of  the  nine  accused  was  condemned  not  only 
to  a  simple  fine,  but  to  three  months  of  imprison 
ment. 

"  Imprisonment  strikes  the  second  group,"  says 
M.  Fribourg  on  this  subject,  "  and  places  in  daily 
contact  the  pseudo-Communists  of  the  Interna 
tional  and  the  Blanquistes  of  the  affair  of  La  Re 
naissance.  What  follows,  may  be  easily  conjectured; 


1 86  History   of   the  International, 

deprived  of  their  liberty,  stigmatized  political  men 
by  their  condemnation,  the  prisoners  lent  an  ear  to 
the  suggestions  of  the  conservative  party  which, 
poisoning  the  minds  of  the  workingmen,  assured 
itself  of  more  auxiliaries." 

Some  months  later,  the  general  council,  speaking 
of  the  two  trials  in  its  report  to  the  congress  of 
Brussels,  congratulates  itself  upon  the  effect  which 
,  they  had  produced :  "  The  governmental  chicaner 
ies,"  it  wrote,  "  far  from  killing  the  International, 
have  given  it  a  new  scope  by  cutting  short  the 
injurious  coquetries  of  the  empire  with  the  laboring 
class." 

However,  it  is  lawful  to  question  if  its  satisfaction 
was  very  sincere. 

What  is  certain,  is  that  the  first  condemnation 
frightened  a  certain  number  of  its  members.  A 
letter,  quoted  in  the  prosecutor's  speech  at  the  time 
of  the  second  trial,  shows  the  real  effect  which  it 
had  produced  upon  these.  A  brave  engraver, 
named  Mathon,  wrote  to  Chemale,  March  25th,  a 
little  ashamed  and  excusing  himself  much,  that  he 
and  a  certain  number  of  his  friends  should  abstain 
from  going  to  a  reunion  appointed  for  the  morrow. 
He  adds  very  frankly  and  not  in  sentences  which  he 
would  recall,  that  he  will  no  longer  be  liable  to  a 
fine  merely,  but  to  imprisonment : 

"  We  have  not  the  means  for  passing  six  months 
in  prison,  because  our  children  must  live  in  our 
absence.  As  you  see,  and  we  are  frank,  it  is  not 
so  much  loss  of  liberty  as  need  of  work  which 
hinders  us  and  compels  us  to  remain  at  home. 


History  of  the  International. 

Besides,  we  think  we  have  done  our  duty  as  honest 
men  and  devoted  members,  by  signing  the  protest 
of  March  6th,  against  the  proceedings  directed 
against  the  committee  which  compromised  us 
almost  as  much  as  the  committee  itself. 

"  When  one  has  seen  1848  and  its  retaliations, 
then  1852,  one  has  fewer  illusions  ! 

"  The  International  is  dissolved,  and  well  dis 
solved,  as  for  the  present,  while  waiting  for  other 
circumstances  more  favorable  or  other  societies 
which  can  last. 

"  One  last  word  in  conclusion  :  do  not  believe 
that  this  is  indifference  or  cowardice  ;  it  is  reason 
which  speaks,  and  necessity  for  work.  Accept  our 
thanks  for  the  zeal  and  intelligence  of  which  you 
have  given  proof  as  member  of  our  committee." 

III.     THE     FRENCH     BRANCH     DISGUISES     ITSELF     IN 

FEDERATION    WITH    WORKINGMEN's    SOCIETIES. 

HATRED    OF    THE    LEADERS    OF   THE    ASSOCIATION 

AGAINST     THE     BOURGEOIS    REPUBLICANS. THEY 

ABUSE    AND    USE     THEM.  — HOPE     OF     A     SPEEDY 
TRIUMPH. 

"  The  International  is  dissolved  and  well  dis 
solved  !  "  That  was  a  sentence  which  it  was  fully 
determined  not  to  accept.  They  did  not  ask  them 
selves  for  one  moment  if  it  were  necessary  to  be 
annihilated,  they  only  cared  to  seek  means  of 
legally  dissembling  its  existence.  There  were  a 
large  number  of  workingmen's  societies  of  all 
kinds,  societies  of  resistance,  syndicates,  etc. ; 


1 88  History  of  the  International. 

which  were  either  authorized  or  at  least  tolerated. 
It  was  resolved  to  bind  them  by  means  of  a  Fed 
eral  Chamber  and  thus  to  organize  a  federation 
which  would  be  nothing  else,  in  reality,  than  the 
International  itself  with  all  its  organization  and  all 
its  means  of  action. 

The  administration  could  the  less  ignore  this 
movement,  as  for  its  accomplishment  it  was  neces 
sary  to  hold  a  large  number  of  reunions,  almost  all 
very  numerous,  which  it  was  impossible  to  hold 
without  previous  authority.  An  account  of  strikes 
was  given  there  ;  funds  for  maintaining  them  were 
received  there ;  nothing,  in  a  word,  distinguished 
a  federal  assembly  from  an  International  assembly. 
The  government  decided  to  forbid  these  reunions 
during  the  month  of  September,  1869. 

Immediately  the  society  made  haste  to  protest 
against  these  fetters  laid  upon  liberty.  The  signers 
of  the  protest  declared  themselves  decided  to  con 
tinue  by  all  the  means  in  their  power  the  discus 
sion  of  the  scheme  of  laws  of  their  federation. 

One  of  the  most  constant  customs  of  the  leaders 
of  the  association  at  this  time,  was  to  present  to 
the  public  and  the  Corps  legislatif  d\\  their  claims 
by  the  journals,  which  at  the  same  time  they  tried 
to  kill,  and  by  the  deputies  of  the  extreme  left,  for 
whom  they  boasted  to  profess  the  most  supreme 
disdain. 

The  protest  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  had 
been  inserted  in  Le  Siecle  of  September  I2th,  1869. 
At  the  same  time,  Le  Travail,  a  journal  published 
by  the  friends  of  the  International,  persuaded  all 


tiistory  of   the  international.  189 

the  democrats  to  abstain  from  entering  the  coffee 
houses,  ale-houses,  taverns,  and  restaurants  which 
had  the  audacity  to  persist  in  receiving  Le  Siecle, 
put  under  the  ban  of  democracy.  On  December 
25th  of  the  same  year,  Varlin  wrote  to  Aubry  : 

"  Le  Siecle  is  perhaps  also  at  Rouen  the  journal 
of  wine-merchants  and  tavern-keepers.  You  may 
organize  against  it  the  campaign  which  has  been 
organized  at  Paris,  of  which  you  have  read  some 
passages  in  Le  Travail. 

"  It  is  necessary  to  fight  our  enemies  by  every 
means  possible,  and,  at  the  point  where  we  are 
now,  our  most  serious  enemies  are  the  moderate 
republicans,  the  liberals  of  all  kinds." 

Nothing  is  more  curious  than  the  profound  con 
tempt  which  they  manifested  in  their  private  let 
ters  for  all  the  great  men  of  the  party  Qiitfeconcil- 
ables,  whom  they  obliged  to  defend  themselves  in 
public,  and  whom  they  overwhelmed  with  humilia 
tions  in  private. 

February  2d,  1870,  Bastelica,  writing  from  Mar 
seilles  to  Varlin,  tells  him  how  it  happened  that 
MM.  Gambetta  and  Esquiros  addressed  interpella 
tions  to  the  government  concerning  the  strikes  of 
Creuzot  :  "  You  are  doubtless  ignorant  that  Gam 
betta  and  Esquiros  have  interpellated  upon  our 
demand."  The  submission  of  which  these  heroes 
of  implacable  opposition  gave  proof,  made  the  citi 
zen  Bastelica  shrug  his  shoulders,  adding  in  a  tone 
of  pity :  "  Our  radicals  are  declining,  declining. 
The  low  tide  of  public  opinion  is  going  very  soon 
to  leave  bare  the  dilapidated  keels  of  these  old 
ships." 


ic)0  History  of  the  International. 

The  day  in  which  the  leaders  of  the  Interna 
tional  saw  these  old  ships  floated  again  upon  the 
waves  by  a  revolution,  their  fury  no  longer  knew 
bounds.  Dupont  wrote  from  London,  September 
7th,  to  Albert  Richard,  at  Lyons  : 

"The  piteous  end  of  the  imperial  Soulouque 
brings  into  our  power  the  Favres,  the  Gambettas, 
Nothing  is  changed,  and  the  power  is  always  with 
the  bourgeoisie.  In  these  circumstances  the  role  of 
the  workingmen,  or  rather  their  duty,  is  to  let  this 
bourgeois  vermin  make  good  peace  with  the  Prus- 


• 

sians. 


This  hate  was  not  secret ;  the  initiated  made  no 
effort  to  conceal  it  from  all  eyes  ;  they  continued, 
on  the  contrary,  to  proclaim  their  disdain  for  the 
journals  by  which  they  had  defended  themselves 
and  for  the  deputy  puppets  of  which  they  pulled 
the  strings.  Thus,  January  8th,  1869,  on  the  eve 
of  the  general  elections,  Varlin  wrote  to  Aubry  : 
"  We  will  enter  fnto  the  electoral  lists  in  competi 
tion  with  the  bourgeois  republicans  of  all  shades  in 
order  to  affirm  the  division  of  the  people  from  the 
bourgeoisie'.' 

The  International  acted,  however,  with  the 
republicans  of  the  secret  societies  and  the  barri 
cades,  as  with  the  parliamentary  faction  of  the 
irreconcilables  ;  it  despised  them  ;  it  did  not  conceal 
it  from  them,  and  at  the  same  time  it  used  them, 
It  is  thus  that  Malon  wrote  to  Combault,  who  went 
to  Cosne,  to  recommend  himself  to  Gambon  ;  at 
at  the  same  time,  he  thanked  him  for  having 
"  purged  the  International  from  the  calumnies  of 


History  of   the  international.  i^t 

the  Blanqnistes?  In  the  trial  of  1870,  the  imperial 
advocate  had  said  that  Blanqui,  Tridon  and  Miot 
had  attended  the  meetings  of  the  congress  at 
Brussels.  This  assertion  seemed  to  Theisz,  not 
only  compromising  from  a  judicial  point  of  view,  but 
injurious  from  a  political  point  of  view  ;  he  points 
it  out  with  a  certain  sharpness :  "  That,"  says  he, 
"  does  not  concern  us  more  than  what  precedes  ; 
but  in  the  interest  of  truth,  I  must  say  that  those 
citizens,  whom  we  have  reason  to  believe  moder 
ately  sympathetic  with  the  International,  are  not 
members  of  it ;  that  only  one  came  two  or  three 
times  to  the  section  of  Brussels,  that  the  others 
never  placed  their  feet  there." 

At  this  time  when,  in  spite  of  the  trials  and  con 
demnations  which  it  had  undergone  at  Paris,  the 
International  was  making  everywhere,  even  in 
France,  enormous  progress,  its  chiefs  had  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that  they  no  longer  had  need  of  the 
support  of  any  party,  that  the  association  would  be 
in  a  few  years,  perhaps  in  a  few  months,  strong 
enough  to  throw  down  by  itself  alone  all  which  had 
opposed  its  triumph,  to  stifle  all  who  would  resist 
it,  that  its  victory  would  be  so  irresistible  that  it 
would  be  accomplished  without  contest. 

This  idea  recurs  in  every  form  during  the  last 
two  years  of  the  empire,  in  the  speeches  of  its  ora 
tors,  in  the  writings  of  the  publicists  : 

"  The  International,"  we  read  in  a  speech  pro* 
nounced  at  the  congress  of  Basle  (1868),  "is  and 
ought  to  be  a  state  among  states  ;  it  permits  them 
to  march  on  their  way,  until  our  state  shall  be 


ic)2  History  of  the  International. 

stronger.  Then,  upon  their  ruins,  we  will  place 
ours  all  ready,  all  made,  such  as  exists  in  each  sec 
tion  ;  stand  out  of  the  way  when  I  begin,  that  will  be 
the  word."  (Account  given  of  the  congress  of 
Basle,  page  7.) 

Hear  now  how  L Internationale  speaks,  in  its 
number  of  May  2nd,  1869 : 

"  Revolution  demands  preparation  ;  now  when 
this  preparation,  which  consists  in  the  elaboration 
of  a  common  programme  of  social  renovation  and 
in  the  grouping  of  the  proletaries  of  all  countries, 
shall  be  made,  no  outbreak  will  be  necessary  to  work 
the  revolution  ;  it  will  be  done  easily,  by  the  unani 
mous  agreement  of  all  proletaries,  that  is  to  say,  of 
the  population.  And  if  then  some  lofty  barons  of 
capital  and  their  likes  in  the  bourgeoisie  wish  to  op 
pose  the  social  transformation,  will  not  the  prole 
tariat  stifle  the  barkings  of  these  dogs  in  its  power 
ful  grasp,  its  huge  embrace  ?  " 

This  programme  is  also  that  which  the  general 
council  displayed  at  the  same  time  on  the  occasion 
of  the  events  at  Seraing,  in  the  manifesto  which  we 
have  quoted  already.* 

Sometimes  it  is  well  said  that  circumstances  can 
not,  strictly,  move  as  easily  as  one  thinks,  and  that 
the  old  society  will  perhaps  have  the  bad  taste  not 
to  let  itself  be  devoured  with  a  good  grace ;  but 
they  were  not  afraid  of  this  resistance,  and  they 
charitably  advised  the  bourgeoisie  not  to  attempt  it. 

It  is  thus,  that  an  amiable  correspondent  of  the 

*  See  page  166, 


History  of  the  International.  193 

International  from  Lyons,  Madame  or  Madem 
oiselle  or  rather  the  citizen  Virginie  Barbet  writes  : 

"  As  for  civil  war,  we  neither  wish  it  nor  provoke 
it ;  nevertheless,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  declare  with 
our  usual  frankness,  that  in  order  to  avoid  it,  we  no 
longer  wish  to  make  those  cowardly  compromises 
which  complicate  matters  instead  of  clearing  them 
up  ; — if  we  are  called  to  see  the  horrors  of  civil 
war,  it  is  not  because  the  laboring  class  has  desired 
it,  but  the  property  class  ;  let  these  last  yield  to  the 
first  summons  of  those  whom  they  have  so  shame 
fully  speculated  on,  let  them  wisely  consent  to  make 
them  restitution  justly  demanded,  and  this  grand 
social  transformation  will  be  accomplished  without 
having  to  record  much  to  be  regretted  acts." 

The  organ  of  the  association  in  Austria,  the 
Volkstimme,  expresses  these  same  ideas,  in  a  shorter 
and  more  striking  way  :  "  For  us,"  it  says,  "  the  red 
flag  is  the  symbol  of  universal  human  love.  Let 
our  enemies  take  care  not  to  transform  it  against 
themselves  into  the  flag  of  terror." 

IV.  LAST  MONTHS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. — MINISTRY  OF 
JANUARY  2ND. — FUNERAL  OF  VICTOR  NOIR. — M. 
ROCHEFORT  ;  HISTORY  OF  THE  "  MARSEILLAISE." 
STRIKE  OF  CREUZOT. — CLUSERET  ANNOUNCES 
THE  INTENTION  OF  BURNING  PARIS. — THE  IN 
TERNATIONAL  BEGINS  TO  FEAR  THE  ORLEANIST 
PRINCES. 

Such  were  the  feelings  of  the  members  of  the 
International  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  year,  at 

9 


1 94  History  of   the  International. 

the  time  when  the  authoritative  regime  established 
by  the  coup  d  'etat  fell  to  pieces  under  the  discon 
tent  and  mistrust  of  the  middle  classes,  and  when 
spme  men  well-meaning,  but  too  feeble  in  character, 
endeavored  to  substitute  for  the  dictatorship  a  con 
stitutional  government  which  would  draw  its  power 
from  the  union  of  all  moderate  parties  reconciled 
with  the  empire  by  freedom. 

This  generous  and  wise  endeavor,  it  will  be  re 
membered,  was  pervaded  from  its  commencement 
by  a  series  of  crises  some  of  which  led  to  dangers 
which  no  wisdom  could  have  foreseen  or  averted,  of 
which  others  were  caused  as  much  by  the  faults  of 
the  ministers  as  by  those  of  their  enemies.  The 
events  which  determined  these  excessive  crises 
were,  it  will  be  sufficiently  remembered,  the  murder 
and  burial  of  Victor  Noir,  the  strike  of  Creuzot, 
the  arrest  of  Rochefort,  the  agitation  caused  by  the 
plebiscite,  the  affair  of  the  Orsini  bombs,  finally, 
the  candidature  of  the  »  Prince  of  Hohenzollern  to 
the  throne  of  Spain,  and  the  declaration  of  war 
which  it  determined.  We  must  confess  that  noth 
ing  was  more  fitting  than  such  shocks,  to  favor  at 
the  same  time  as  the  desires  of  the  enemies  of  the 
empire,  those  of  the  enemies  of  society. 

The  first  of  these  events,  which  no  one  could  have 
foreseen,  surprised  the  International  and  the  Jaco 
bin  party  as  thoroughly  as  the  government ;  but 
contrary  to  what  ordinarily  happens  in  France  in 
the  days  of  popular  excitement,  the  government 
showed  more  skill  on  the  defensive  than  its  ene 
mies  displayed  on  the  offensive.  The  letters  seized 


History   of   the  International.  195 

on  the  principal  leaders  of  the  association,  and 
quoted  in  the  third  trial,  prove  clearly  that  the  revo 
lutionary  party,  uncertain,  divided,  although  it  had 
had,  between  the  death  of  Noir  and  his  funeral, 
several  days  to  assume  its  part,  remained  all  day 
without  plan  and  without  direction,  no  more  being 
able  to  decide  to  profit  by  so  magnificent  an  occa 
sion  of  disorder  than  to  submit  to  letting  it  escape, 

"  The  delegates  of  the  federal  chamber,"  (says 
Varlin  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Aubry,  January 
igth,)  "  were  neither  united  nor  concerted  at  first  ; 
all  met  with  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
workingmen's  societies  at  the  burial  of  Noir  ;  I  can 
assure  you  that  the  larger  part  of  them  were  dis 
posed  to  act  if  Rochefort  had  said  :  To  Paris  ! 

"  Rochefort  was  master  of  the  situation.  He 
was  intelligent  and  reasonable  enough  not  to  give 
a  fatal  order  and  send  to  death  {he  best  soldiers  of 
the  revolution. 

"  It  is  he  alone  whom  we  ought  to  thank  for  the 
issue  of  that  day.  As  for  the  people,  if  they  did 
not  take  the  offensive  themselves,  it  was  because  at 
first  they  lacked  arms,  and  because,  besides,  they 
understood  that  the  strategic  position  was  the 
worst  possible." 

While  Varlin  praised  Rochefort  thus,  Bastelica 
at  Marseilles  condemned  him  without  hesitation  : 
"  Rochefort  is  culpable,"  (he  wrote  to  Varlin  ;)  "  I 
am  severe,  but  just.  One  must  not  play  like  that 
at  sliding  in  the  blood  of  the  people."  According 
to  the  citizen  Bastelica,  the  hero  of  the  Faubourgs 
of  Paris  is  already  in  February  a  played-out  man  : 


196  History   of   tJie  International. 

"Why  does  not  Rochefort  resign?  That  man, 
(whom  I  hold  in  high  esteem,)  has  had,  like  men 
who  serve  the  revolution,  his  day,  his  hour,  his 
latitude.  To-day  the  popular  level  has  gone  beyond 
him  ;  let  him  regain  the  shore,  if  he  does  not  wish 
to  be  drowned.  Let  us  have  another  !" 

Demagogism  breaks  quickly  its  toys  ! 

And,  moreover,  there  was  a  very  convenient  toy 
which  this  vaudcvilliste  mislaid  in  politics.  What 
an  admirable  puppet  for  the  International  which 
pulled  the  strings,  as  Malon  explains  to  a  working- 
man  of  Saint-Etienne.  "  La  Marseillaise!'  says 
he,  "  is  a  revolutionary  socialist  journal  which  is 
quite  at  our  disposal,  and  which  will  insert  with 
eagerness  all  the  communications  which  the  Inter 
national  will  send  to  it." 

Varlin,  in  a  letter  to  Aubry,  lets  us  privately 
into  the  secret  of  the  foundation  of  La  Marseillaise. 
Le  Travail  had  just  died.  The  socialist  party 
wished  for  a  long  time  to  have  a  journal  for  itself, 
so  as  to  be  no  longer  reduced  to  defend  itself 
through  the  journals  of  4he  bourgeois  republic. 
But  they  could  not  succeed  in  obtaining  the  neces 
sary  capital,  when  Rochefort  was  nominated  deputy 
to  Paris  : 

"  With  its  own  resources,"  (says  Varlin,)  it  is 
evident  that  the  socialist  party  could  not  have  cre 
ated  an  organ,  but  with  Rochefort  the  difficulty 
was  removed,  not  by  his  fortune,  for  he  has  none, 
but  by  his  name. 

"  A  journal  started  by  Rochefort  is  assured  of 
success.  In  France,  the  crowd  attaches  itself 


History   of   the  International.  197 

before  all  to  that  which  glitters,  and  as  assurance 
of  success  gives  confidence  to  capital,  Rochefort 
has  found  lenders.  The  financial  question  being 
settled,  the  rest  became  easy. 

"  The  most  devout  socialists,  and  especially  the 
members  of  the  workingmen's  societies,  met  at  a 
private  reunion  and  discussed  the  conditions  upon 
which  they  would  establish  the  journal.  Milliere, 
nominated  manager,  was  at  the  same  time  and 
especially  charged  with  the  socialist  line  of  the 
journal. 

"  This  line  is  the  one  affirmed  by  almost  all  the 
delegates  of  the  International  at  the  congress  of 
Basle,  that  is  to  say,  the  collectivist  socialism  or 
indiscriminative  Communism." 

Poor  Rochefort !  When  he  wrote  his  amusing 
"  Mystercs  de  r hotel  dcs  ventes"  when  he  played 
his  gay  songs  "  L Homme  du  Sud"  and  "  La  Vieil- 
Icsse  de  Brididi"  who  could  then  have  foreseen  that 
we  would  one  day  see  him  descend  to  parading  the 
mountebanks  of  Communism,  and  becoming  the 
file-leader  of  demagogism  ! 

The  International,  which  had  its  journal,  La  Mar 
seillaise,  since  the  end  of  1869,  was  not  less  taken 
unawares  the  day  of  the  funeral  of  Victor  Noir ;  it 
understood  that  it  must  not  expose  itself  to  being 
found  a  second  time  in  grave  circumstances  without 
unity  of  plan.  The  search  for  practical  means  to 
arrive  rapidly  at  a  mutual  understanding  and  a 
union  in  view  of  the  same  action,  was  the  order  of 
the  day  of  all  the  federations  ;  they  were  occupied 
with  it  as  busily  at  Marseilles  and  Lyons  as  at 


198  Histoty  of  the  International. 

Paris,  and  it  seemed  that  the  problem  had  been 
solved,  inasmuch  as  twice,  September  4th  and 
October  3ist,  the  disasters  of  the  country  served 
as  a  pretext  for  a  display  of  shields '  on  the  part  of 
the  demagogy,  which  took  place,  with  the  most 
perfect  uniformity,  in  most  of  our  large  cities. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1870,  France  was  not 
yet  sick  enough  ;  the  ravens  of  the  International  did 
not  consider  the  time  as  having  come  for  alighting 
upon  it ;  they  held  themselves  aloof  from  outbreaks 
which  gave  occasion  to  arrests.  While  the  Jacobins, 
bourgeois  Republicans,  were  barricading  the  boule 
vard  du  Temple,  and  Flourens  was  making  his 
famous  expedition  for  the  conquest  of  wooden 
swords  and  tin  pistols  at  the  theatre  of  Belleville, 
Varlin,  Malon,  and  Combault  issued  a  proclamation 
signed  in  their  names,  in  which  the  violence  of  the 
style  only  served  to  render  acceptable  to  the  impa 
tient  ones  the  pacific  determination  which  they  de 
cided  to  take — "  What  is  most  important,"  they  said, 
"  is  to  assure  the  success  of  the  revolution  ;  and 
being  conscious  of  our  strength,  we  are  concentrat 
ing  it.  The  cup  is  full.  It  will  not  be  slow  in 
overflowing.  Let  the  revolution  choose  its  hour." 

During  this  time,  the  excitement  that  the  crime 
of  Auteuil  had  caused  in  all  the  ranks  of  the  pop 
ulation  was  maintained  and  increased  in  the  labor 
ing  class  by  the  strikes  which  were  organized  almost 
everywhere. 

The  most  famous  of  those  which  broke  out  at 
this  time  was  that  of  Creuzot,  which  was  excited  by 
a  man  then  unknown,  whose  name  to-day  has  be- 


History  of    the  International.  199 

come  too  celebrated,  the  machinist  Assi.     What 
was  the  real  motive  of  the  strike  ?     Did  the  Inter 
national,    which   had   everywhere   for    some  .  time 
urged  the  workingmen  to  free  their  treasuries  of 
assistance  from  the  direction  or  the  surveillance  of 
employers,   especially   covet   the   rich  treasury  of 
Creuzot  ?     Must  we  believe  what  it  said  then,  and 
see  in  Assi  the  voluntary  or  unconscious  instrument 
of  a  political  intrigue  hatched  in  the  ranks   of  the 
Bonapartist  party  which  had  just  been  overturned 
by  the  ministry  of  January  2nd  ?     That  is  only  a 
supposition,  and  no  proof  has  up  to  this  time  been 
given  to  sustain  it.     What  is  certain  is,  that  what 
ever  was  the  motive  of  Assi,  this  strike  and  its 
furious  declamations,  for  which  it  served  as  the  pre 
text,   indisposed    the   popular  masses   against  the 
director  of  Creuzot,  and  did  at  least  as  much  evil 
to  the  politician  as  to  the  great  manufacturer.     But 
at  the  very  same  time  that  they  wounded  M.  Schnei 
der  personally,  they  were  to  contribute  to  throw 
discredit  through  him  upon  the  chief  of  one  of  the 
grand  departments  of  state,  and,  indirectly,  on  the 
assembly  even  over  which  he  presided  ;  they  in 
flamed  the  passions  already  so  ardent  of  the  labor 
ing  classes  against  the  empire  »and  the  bourgeoisie. 
The  leaders  of  the  extreme  opposition  rendered 
an  account  sufficiently  exact  of  the  considerable  re 
sults  which  they  had  produced  in  shaking  all  the 
foundations  of  the  empire  at  once.     All  saw  that 
the  edifice  of  December  2nd  ran  the  risk  of  falling 
at  the  very  moment  when  it  received  its  crowning- 
stone.     Only,  while  the  least  intelligent  believed 


2OO  History  of  the  International. 

that  the  fall  of  the  imperial  monarchy  would  only 
be  profitable  to  socialism,  the  more  far-sighted 
began  to  see  that  the  Bonapartes  once  overturned, 
another  enemy  more  serious  would  be  able  to  dis 
pute  their  spoils  with  the  conquerors. 

A  former  officer,  turned  out  of  the  French  army 
on  account  of  facts  of  a  nature  to  sully  his  honor, 
the  soi-disant  General  Cluseret,  had  made  at  Sainte- 
Pelagie,  where  he  found  himself  in  the  character  of 
a  political  prisoner,  the  acquaintance  of  members  of 
the  second  committee  of  the  International.*  He 
had  felt  there  a  serious  power  ;  he  had  seen  men 
determined  to  succeed  and  little  scrupulous  as  to 
the  choice  of  allies  who  could  help  them  in  throwing 
down  society  ;  he  joined  himself  to  them,  calculat 
ing  to  succeed  by  their  aid,  determined  to  do  every 
thing  to  succeed,  as  not  to  draw  back  from  any 
crime  in  order  to  maintain  himself  when  he  should 
be  in  power,  or  to  avenge  the  day  in  which  he 
should  see  himself  defeated. 

As  soon  as  he  was  out  of  prison,  as  by  having 
himself  naturalized  as  American  citizen  he  had 
lost  the  title  and  rights  of  a  French  citizen,  the 
government  hastened  to  request  him  to  leave  France. 
He  returned  to  America,  this  time  on  account  of 
the  International.  He  thought  for  a  moment  of 
founding  a  journal  for  preaching  the  doctrines 

*  "I  send  you  inclosed  a  programme  (for  a  journal)  which  Clus 
eret,  our  fellow-prisoner  at  Sainte-Pelagie,  seized  for  us.  He  did 
it  upon  the  demand  which  was  addressed'  to  him  by  an  important 
trade  interest."  (Letter  from  Varl in  to  A ubry,  January  8th,  1869, 
quoted  in  the  third  trial.) 


History   of   the  International.  201 

pronounced  orthodox  in  the  congress  of  the  asso- 
cition,  and  particularly  for  recruiting  members. 

On  learning  in  the  month  of  February,  the 
events  at  Paris  and  the  troubles  for  which  the 
death  of  Victor  Noir  and  the  arrest  of  Rochefort 
had  furnished  the  pretext,  he  renounced  his  project, 
considering  that  it  was  no  longer  the  time  for  words 
but  for  action. 

A  letter  which  he  addressed  from  New  York  to 
Varlin,  bearing  the  date  of  February  I7th,  1870,  is 
worthy  of  being  quoted  entire,  for  it  proves  that 
this  man,  doubtless  a  stranger  to  the  passions  and 
prejudices  which  blinded  the  other  members  of  the 
International,  and  driven  to  join  them  by  ambi 
tion  alone,  was  singularly  clear-sighted  ;  it  proves 
at  the  same  time  that  all  the  crimes  of  which  he 
was  afterwards  guilty,  had  been  for  a  long  time  pre 
meditated,  and  that  he  had  resolved  for  a  long  time 
not  to  perish  without  dragging  down  Paris  in  his 
fall  : 

NEW  YORK,  FEBRUARY  17. 
MY  DEAR  VARLIN  : 

I  have  just  received  your  good  letter  of  the  2nd.  It  explains  to  me 
the  delay  occasioned  to  the  solution  of  my  question  :  it  is  needless 
to  tell  you  that  I  accept,  and  that  I  am  going  to  throw  myself  into 
the  work  of  endeavoring  to  be  useful  to  my  brothers  in  misery  and 
labor.  % 

The  journal  of  which  I  spoke  to  you  is  not  founded,  and  I  do  not 
think  it  my  duty  to  renew  the  attempt  in  view  of  the  late  events  in 
France,  which  as  well  as  the  letters  of  my  friends,  unanimously  call 
me  back  to  Europe. 

According  to  all  probability,  I  shall  be  there  by  ne.\t  summer  ; 
but,  by  that  time,  I  shall  have  organized  the  International  relations 
between  the  various  French  and  American  groups,  and  have  desig- 

9* 


2O2  History  of   the  International. 

nated  to  take  my  place  (subject  to  the  choice  of  the  French  com 
mittee)  one  or  more  persons  zealous  and  capable. 

As  you  say,  we  will  triumph  surely,  infallibly,  if  we  persist  in  de- 
minding  success  for  the  organization. 

But  let  us  not  lose  from  sight  that  the  organization  has  for  its 
end  the  uniting  of  the  largest  number  for  action. 

Then  let  us  be  smooth,  let  us  round  off  the  angles,  let  us  be 
really  brothers  in  action,  not  in  word  ;  let  the  words  of  doctrine  and 
of  individuality  not  separate  us  from  those  whom  a  common  wrong, 
that  is  to  say,  a  common  interest,  has  united  ;  we  are  everything 
and  all ;  it  must  be  confessed  that  if  we  are  beaten,  we  deserve  it. 

I  have  not  seen  that  we  have  figured  in  the  late  troubles.  What 
has  been  the  attitude  of  the  workingmen's  societies  and  what  are 
their  actual  dispositions  ? 

Certain'y  we  must  not  sacrifice  our  ideas  to  politics,  but  it  will  be 
disastrous  if  we  detach  ourselves  from  them  even  momentarily. 

To  me,  all  which  has  just  occurred  signifies  that  the  Orleanists 
are  gradually  making  their  way  ifito  power,  cutting  the  nails  of  L. 
N.  so  as  only  to  have  to  substitute  themselves  for  him  some  fine 
morning. 

Now,  on  that  day  we  ought  to  be  ready  physically  and  morally. 
Onthatdavy'weornothing!  Until  then  I  wi!l  probably  remain 
quiet;  but  onthatdav,  I  promise  you,  and  I  always  mean  what  I 
say,  Paris  will  be  ours,  or  Paris  will  be  no  more.  That  will  be  rhe 
decisive  moment  for  the  accession  of  the  people. 

Yours,  CL * 

"  On  that  day,  we  or  nothing !  On  that  day, 
Paris  will  be  ours,  or  Paris  will  be  no  more-!" 
Events  have  proved  that  this  was  not  sinister  boast 
ing,  but  a  project  maturely  settled.  Other  facts/ 
also  revealed  to  the  public,  unfortunately  incredu 
lous,  by  the  imperial  advocate  in  his  prosecution  of 
June  22nd,  1870, — eleven  months  before  the  burn 
ing  of  Paris — will  furnish  at  need  additional  proofs. 

At  the  house  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  In- 

*  This  curious  letter  was  quoted  in  the  prosecution  of  the  im 
perial  advocate,  daring  the  third  trial. 


History   of   the  International.  203 

ternational,  a  private  dictionary  was  found,  which 
gave  the  key  to  their  ciphered  correspondence, 
The  proper  or  common  names  which  they  used 
most  frequently,  were  translated  each  by  a  particu 
lar  sign.  Now,  we  find  among  these  current  words 
of  their  language  not  only  arms,  powder,  ammuni 
tion,  but  also  nitro-glycerine  and  picrale  of  potash. 
If  we  do  not  meet  with  the  word  petroleum,  it  is 
doubtless  solely  because  the  Prussians  had  not  yet 
at  this  time  taught  these  grand  citizens  the  surest 
method  of  burning  our  cities. 

At  the  house  of  one  of  them,  Pindy,  whom  we 
found  to  our  misfortune  this  year  at  Paris,  there 
were  seized  some  things  still  more  compromising 
than  this  private  dictionary  enriched  by  such  terms. 
They  had  discovered  the  recipe  for  the  making  of 
nitro-glycerine,  that  of  a  composition  of  carbonate 
of  sulphur,  and  that  of  a  powder  of  chlorate  prus- 
siate  of  potash.  Some  of  these  recipes  were  fol 
lowed  by  this  direction  :  "  To  be  thrown  into  win 
dows  ;  "  others  with  this  note  :  "  To  be  thrown  on 
the  eaves." 

Pindy,  when  pleading  his  own  cause,  pretended 
that  if  he  had  copied  these  alarming  indications,  it 
was  solely  to  satisfy  a  sentiment  of  curiosity.  "  The 
accusation  made  of  me,"  said  he,  "  a  dangerous  man, 
and  if  the  tribunal  drew  logical  conclusions  from 
the  words  of  the  imperial  advocate,  I  shall  be  sent 
to  Cayenne.  And,  nevertheless,  it  is  very  difficult 
to  find  in  me  the  character  of  a  fierce  conspirator, 
dreaming  only  of  pillage  and  assassination.  As 
suredly  I  recognized  that,  for  the  need  of  the  accu- 


2O4  History   of   the  International. 

sation,  it  was  well  to  reproduce  against  the  Inter- 
national  some  of  the  formulas  ;  the  subversive  pas 
sions,  the  unwholesome  doctrinces,  the  barbarous 
and  savage  engines,  in  a  word,  all  the  accessories 
which  serve  to  frighten  and  to  excite  against  social 
ism  all  the  Joseph  Prudhommes  of  the  bozirgcoisier 
Alas !  Joseph  Prudhomme  was  not  sufficiently 
frightened  March  i8th  ;  he  paid  dear  in  the  month 
of  May  for  his  excessive  confidence  ! 

The  passage  relative  to  the  contingency  of  the 
destruction  of  Paris  was  not,  without  doubt,  in  the 
the  letter  of  Cluseret,  that  which  had  the  most 
news  for  Varlin.  He  was  to  be  much  more  struck 
by  this  idea  that  the  revolution  which  had  advanced 
might  well,  upon  the  whole,  profit  not  only  the  so 
cialists,  who  would  have  the  trouble  of  causing  it, 
but  the  Orleanist  princes  who  would  hold  them 
selves  aloof  from  it.  This  letter,  written  February 
1 7th,  should  have  reached  him  in  the  first  part  of 
March.  The  8th  of  the  same  month,  that  is  to  say, 
probably  three  or  four  days  after  he  received  it,  he 
wrote  to  Aubry : 

"You  are  wrong  in  believing  for  one  moment 
that  I  neglect  the  socialist  movement  for  the  polit 
ical  movement.  No,  it  is  only  from  a  truly  social 
ist  view  that  I  pursue  the  revolutionary  work,  but 
you  must  well  understand  that  we  can  do  nothing, 
in  the  way  of  social  reform,  if  the  old  political  state 
is  not  annihilated.  We  do  not  forget  that  at  this 
time  the  empire  only  exists  in  name  and  that  the 
government  is  the  injury  of  parties.  If,  in  such 
grave  circumstances,  the  socialist  party  lets  itself 


History   of   the  International.  205 

be  rocked  to  sleep  by  the  abstract  theory  of  soci- 
ologic  science,  we  may  well  wake  up  some  fine 
morning  under  new  masters,  more  dangerous  for 
us  than  those  whom  we  overthrow  at  this  time,  be 
cause  they  will  be  younger,  and  consequently,  more 
vigorous  and  more  powerful." 

In  Paris,  as  in  New  York,  after  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1870,  more  than  four  months  before  the 
declaration  of  war,  six  months  before  the  fall  of  the 
empire  the  men  most  implacable  against  the  social 
order  trembled  at  the  idea  that  the  princes  of  Or 
leans,  if  they  arrived  at  power,  would  have  the  force 
which  was  wanting  to  Bonaparte,  that  they  would 
and  that  they  could  protect  effectually  all  that  the 
International  had  promised  itself  to  throw  down. 

V.      THE  PLEBISCITE. AFFAIR     OF     THE     BOMBS. 

THIRD    TRIAL    OF    THE    INTERNATIONAL. 

Meanwhile,  the  ministry  of  January  2d  had  com 
mitted  the  fault  of  deciding  to  urge  a  plebiscite  on 
the  occasion  of  the  excellent  reforms  which  it  was 
preparing  to  have  voted  by  the  senate.  It  will  still 
be  remembered,  even  after  the  terrible  events 
which  it  brought  about,  the  agitation  which  this 
decision,  unfortunate  and  impolitic  from  every 
point  of  view,  spread  through  the  country. 

The  International  could  not  fail  to  profit  by  it. 
After  the  nth  of  April,  the  federal  section  of  the 
French  branch  published  a  very  short  address, 
dated  at  London,  which  closed  thus  :  "  We  can 
vote  neither  for  the  parliamentary  empire  nor  the 
arbitrary  empire.  We  will  all  vote  for  the  republic 


206  History  of  the  International. 

by  casting  blank  ballots  in  the  urn.  No  abstaining. 
Blank  ballots." 

It  is  known  that  immediately  the  word  of  com 
mand  was  changed,  and  that  all  the  revolutionists, 
to  whatever  division  of  party  they  belonged,  com 
menced  an  active  propagandizing  to  increase,  by 
all  possible  means,  the  number  of  No's,  which 
decided  many  liberals  to  vote  Yes,  in  spite  of  their 
repugnance  to  the  empire. 

The  plebiscite  was  as  much  the  pretext  and  as 
much  the  motive  of  a  number  of  public  reunions, 
called  often  by  the  members  of  the  International 
speaking  officially  in  its  name,  and  still  oftener  by 
the  leaders  of  the  association,  but  without  official 
character. 

Most  of  these  reunions  began  by  conferring  the 
honorary  presidency  upon  a  fanatic  of  the  Jacobin 
party,  named  Megy,  who  had  just  made  hmiself 
dear  to  the  demagogues,  by  shooting  with  a  pistol 
the  agent  Mourot,  charged  to  arrest  him.  Some 
gave  themselves  as  many  as  three  honorary  presi 
dents  at  once ;  then  the  name  of  Megy  appeared 
preceded  or  followed  by  those  of  Garibaldi  and 
Rochefort.  It  was  in  one  of  these  assemblies, 
where  were  gathered  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thou 
sand  workingmen,  that  the  contract  of  federation 
of  the  Paris  workingmen's  societies  was  voted. 
A  committee  was  also  nominated  there,  charged 
with  preparing  a  plan  of  an  anti-plebiscitary  mani 
festo  in  the  name  of  the  International.  Combault 
and  Johannard  were  on  it. 

11  Our  speculators  divided  the  roles,"  says  Varlin 
at  this  reunion,  "  to-day  all  must  be  changed. 


History  of   the  International.  207 

Already  the  International  has  conquered  the  preju 
dices  of  the  people  as  a  people.  We  know  to 
whom  we  owe  it,  under  Providence,  who  has 
always  inclined  to  the  side  of  the  millions  ;  the 
good  God  has  taken  His  time.  Enough  of  this. 
We  appeal  to  those  who  suffer  and  who  resist. 
We  have  the  power  and  the  right ;  we  must  suffice 
for  ourselves.  It  is  against  the  judicial,  economic, 
and  religious  order  that  we  must  direct  our  efforts." 

Combault  shows  himself  still  more  violent : 

"  Never,"  he  cried,  "  has  the  laboring  class  been 
willing  to  accept  anything  whatever  from  the  con 
queror  of  France,  whom  it  has  always  regarded  as 
its  most  cruel  enemy.  The  International  has  sub 
mitted  to  the  hard  laws  of  necessity  ;  it  was  killing 
itself  up  to  the  time  when  it  could  say  :  We  do  not 
wish  the  empire ;  and  for  several  years  it  is  its 
sharpest  cry.  We  must  occupy  ourselves  with 
politics,  since  labor  is  submissive  to  politics.  We 
must  say  aloud,  once  for  all,  that  we  desire  the 
social  republic  with  all  its  consequences." 

The  ministry  of  January  2nd  could  not  tolerate 
such  attacks.  M.  Emile  Ollivier  commanded  all 
the  attorney-generals  to  watch  the  International 
closely,  and  arrest  its  leaders. 

"  Has  the  International  at  Marseilles  been 
seized?"  (he  wrote,  for  example,  to  the  attorney- 
general  of  Aix).  "  It  certainly  exists  there.  I  am 
told  that  the  reunions  at  Marseilles  are  intolerable 
because  of  their  violence.  Do  not  hesitate  to  make 
an  example,  and  especially  strike  at  the  head." 

At  the  same  time,  they  closely  watched  the 
group  of  republican  Jacobins,  great  friends,  as  it  is 


2o8  History   of   the  International. 

known,  of  conspiracies  and  strong  admirers  of 
Armodius  and  Aristogiton.  It  was  then  that  was 
discovered,  a  few  days  only  before  the  opening  of 
the  ballot  for  the  plebiscite,  the  famous  plot  of  the 
bombs,  and  that  the  Journal  officiel  published  the 
report  of  M.  Grandperret,  attorney-general,  to 
the  minister  of  justice,  upon  the  intrigues  and  pro 
jects  of  the  revolutionists. 

All  shades  of  the  republican  party  were  unani 
mous  in  declaring  that  the  conspiracy  was  an 
invention  of  the  police,  an  electoral  manoeuvre 
hatched  by  the  government  itself,  desirous  of 
frightening  the  electors  so  as  to  prevent  them  from 
voting  against  it.  Such  a  position  is  no  longer 
tenable  to-day,  at  least  unless  one  is  willing  to 
admit  that  the  i8th  of  March  itself  and  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris  were  also  inventions  of  the  police. 
For  the  men  denounced  by  M.  Grandperret,  and 
afterwards  tried  before  the  supreme  court  of  Blois, 
were  precisely  all  those  heroes  of  March  i8th  and 
of  the  Commune  who  did  not  belong  to  the  Inter 
national,  such  as  Villeneuve,  Flourens,  Guerin, 
Fontaine,  Tony  Moilin,  Megy,  Cournet,  Tridon, 
Rigault,  Jaclard,  etc. 

But  it  is  true  that  the  International  took  no  part 
in  the  affair  of  the  bombs,  and  its  language  con 
formed  at  the  same  time  to  the  truth  of  the  facts 
and  to  its  secret  thoughts  when  it  issued,  May  5th, 
the  following  protest : 

"  The  Paris  federal  council  of  the  International  association  of 
workingmen  presents  a  formal  contradiction  to  the  accusations  and 
insinuations  of  the  official  and  officious  journals. 


History  of   the  International.  209 

"  It  is  false  that  the  International  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
new  conspiracy,  which  doubtless,  had  no  more  reality  than  the  pre 
ceding  inventions  of  the  same  order. 

"  The  International  knows  too  well  that  the  suffering  of  all  kinds 
which  the  proletariat  endures,  belong  much  more  to  the  actual 
economic  state  than  to  the  accidental  despotism  of  a  few  makers  of 
coups  d'Etat,  to  lose  its  time  in  dreaming  of  the  suppression  of 
one  of  them. 

"  The  International  association  of  workingmen,  a  permanent 
conspiracy  against  all  oppressors  and  all  speculators,  will  exist  in 
spite  of  all  the  powerless  prosecutions  against  the  soi-disant  leaders, 
as  long  as  all  the  speculators,-  capitalists,  priests,  and  political  ad 
venturers  shall  not  have  disappeared. 

"  For  the  Federal  Council,  the  members  present :  Ansel,  Berthe- 
mieu,  Bertin,  Boyer,  Chaillou,  Chalain,  Chaudey,  Cirode,  Com- 
bault,  Dambrun,  Delacour,  Dupont,  Durand,  Durieux,  Duval, 
Fournaise,  Franke,*  Franquin,  Giot,  Haake,  Langevin,  Malezieux, 
Mongolcl,  Marlet,  Menard,  Pagnerre,  Portalier,  Reynier,  Riviere, 
Robin,  Rochat. 

"  MAY,  2ND,  1870." 

This  manifesto  was  a  declaration  of  war  not  only 
against  the  men  of  the  empire,  clearly  designated 
by  these  words,  political  adventurers ;  but  also 
against  the  bourgeoisie,  the  clergy,  and  every  man 
who  had  any  interest  whatever  in  the  maintenance 
of  social  order. 

No  one  outside  of  the  International  itself  was 
surprised  or  scandalized  to  learn  that  the  leaders  of 
this  famous  society  were  for  the  third  time  the 
object  of  judicial  prosecutions. 

This  third  trial,  which  occupied  several  long 
sittings,  would  have  deserved  to  have  excited  the 
public  to  the  highest  point  of  interest,  by  the 

*  This  name  is  written  thus  in  the  journal  from  which  we  take 
this  document.  Is  it  not  a  mis  print,  and  should  it  not  rather  read 
Frankcl  ? 


2IO  History  of  the  International. 

authentic  and  innumerable  documents  seized  at 
the  houses  of  the  accused,  in  which  the  real  plans, 
the  private  hopes  of  the  partisans  of  social  over 
throw  were  revealed  in  the  most  complete  manner. 
The  reading  of  an  excellent  prosecutor's  speech,  in 
which  the  history  of  the  association  was  skilfully 
and  patiently  written,  not  with  hypotheses  and 
hyperboles,  but  with  certain  facts,  with  the  letters 
of  the  accused  themselves,  occupied  all  the  hearing 
of  June  22nd. 

On  the  2Qth,  the  imperial  advocate  abandoning 
the  general  ground,  which  it  had  held  at  the  privi- 
ous  hearing,  approached  the  question  of  law  which 
had  become  involved  in  the  trial,  and  sought  to 
establish  that,  if  the  International  concealed  neither 
its  existence  nor  the  names  of  its  members,  nor  the 
place  and  time  of  its  reunions,  it  none  the  less  fell 
under  the  stroke  of  the  law  against  secret  societies, 
because,  behind  the  patent  end  which  it  published, 
it  followed  another  more  mysterious,  which  it  con 
cealed  with  care.  This  argument,  more  ingenious 
than  solid,  was  developed  with  skill,  but  it  seems 
to  us  difficult  and  dangerous  to  admit  it.  Finally, 
the  speaker  reached  the  charges  which  weighed  in 
particular  upon  each  of  the  thirty-eight  accused. 
They  were  divided  by  the  accusation  into  two  cate 
gories,  equal  in  number :  the  first  nineteen  were 
accused  of  having,  during  less  than  three  years, 
taken  part  at  Paris  in  a  secret  society,  as  chiefs  or 
founders ;  the  other  nineteen  were  accused  of  hav 
ing  been  simple  members. 

It  is  indispensable  to  reproduce  here  these  two 


History  of   the  International.  2 1 1 

lists  ;  in  fact,  the  larger  part  of  the  names  of  the 
central  committee  and  of  the  Commune  will  be 
found  here. 

The  accused  of  the  first  series  were  :  MM.  Lou 
is-Eugene  Varlin,  aged  thirty-one  years,  binder  ; 
Benoist  Malon,  twenty-eight  years,  bookseller's-as- 
sistant ;  Andre- Pierre  Murat,  thirty-seven  years, 
machinist ;  Jules  Johannard,  twenty-seven  years, 
foliage-maker;  Louis-Jean  Pindy,  thirty  years, 
joiner  ;  Amedee-Benjamin  Combault,  thirty-two 
years,  jeweller;  Jean-Pierre  Heligon,  thirty- six 
years,  book-broker  ;  Augustin  Avrial,  twenty -nine 
years,  engineer  ;  Pierre  Sabourdy,  thirty-six  years, 
employed  on  the  journal  La  Marseillaise ;  Jules 
Colmia,  called  Franquin,  thirty-two  years,^  litho 
grapher  ;  Auguste-Jules  Passedouet,  thirty -two 
years,  journalist ;  Marie-Antoine  Rocher,  thirty- 
six  years,  publicist ;  Adolphe-Alphonse  Assi, 
twenty-nine  years,  machinist ;  Camille-Pierre  Lan- 
gevin,  twenty-seven  years,  metal-turner ;  Felix 
Pagnerre,  forty-six  years,  foliage-maker  ;  Charles 
Louis-Paul  Robin,  thirty-three  years,  teacher ; 
Albert-Felix  Leblanc,  twenty-six  years,  civil,  engi 
neer  ;  Paul-Jean  Carle,  thirty-two  years^teacher ; 
Camille-Felix  Allard,  twenty  years,  law-student. 

The  nineteen  others  are :  MM.  Albert  Theisz, 
thirty-one  years,  chiseller ;  Adolphe  Collot,  thirty- 
two  years,  joiner  ;  Eugene-Frangois-Germain  Casse, 
thirty-two  years,  journalist ;  Jean-Desire  Ducau- 
quie,  thirty  years,  weigher;  Emile-Amour  Fla- 
haut,  thirty-three  years,  marble-cutter ;  Bernard 
Landeck,  thirty-eight  years,  jeweller  ;  Louis  Chal- 


212  History  of   the  International. 

ain,  twenty-five  years,  copper-turner ;  Bernard- 
Gabriel  Ansel,  twenty-nine  years,  painter  on  poi- 
celain  ;  Frederic  Bertin,  thirty-two  years,  iron": 
moulder  ;  Vincent  Boyer,  twenty-nine  years,  stone 
cutter  ;  Barthelemy  Cirode,  thirty-two  years, 
sculptor  ;  Alphonse  Delacour,  thirty  years,  binder  ; 
Gustave-Emile  Durand,  thirty-five  years,  jeweller  ; 
Emile-Victor  Duval,  twenty-nine  years,  iron-foun 
der  ;  Joseph  Fournaise,  forty-two  years,  maker  of 
mathematical  instruments ;  Leo  Frankel,  twenty- 
six  years,  jeweller  ;  Giot,  twenty-one  years,  painter  ; 
Malzieux,  forty-two  years,  blacksmith. 

By  adding  to  the  list  of  the  thirty-eight  accused 
of  the  third  trial  of  the  International  that  of  the 
accused  who  appeared,  some  days  later,  at  Blois, 
before  the  supreme  court  of  justice,  to  answer  con 
cerning  the  Jacobin  plot  of  the  Orsini  bombs,  there 
will  be  had  nearly  a  complete  list  of  the  members 
of  the  central  committee  of  the  national  guard  and 
of  those  of  the  Commune  of  Paris. 

The  revolution  of  March  1 8th,  was  arranged  and 
operated  conjointly  by  the  Internationals  and  the 
bourgeois  republicans.  We  have  already  said  sev 
eral  times  what  sentiments  of  distrust  and  aversion 
these  two  revolutionary  parties  nourished  with  re 
spect  to  each  other.  It  is  easy  then  to  understand 
the  violent  hatreds  which  divided  the  ephemeral 
masters  of  the  Hotel  de  ville,  and  which  would  not 
permit  them  long  to  hold  power,  when  even  Flou- 
rens,  Duval,  and  Bergeret  himself  would  have  suc 
ceeded  in  seizing  upon  Versailles  and  dispersing  the 


History   of   the  International.  213 

A  large  number  of  the  facts  which  we  have  ex 
posed  in  the  course  of  this  book,  and  the  docu 
ments  upon  which  we  rested  in 'order  to  justify 
our  assertions,  are,  as  have  been  seen,  borrowed 
from  this  trial,  which  is  up  to  the  present  time  with 
the  official  accounts  rendered  of  the  congress,  the 
richest  and  surest  source  from  which  the  historians 
of  the  International  should  draw.  We  could  only 
repeat  what  we  have  already  said  elsewhere,  if  we 
wished  to  follow  step  by  step  the  inquiries  and  the 
defense  of  each  accused.  We  will  limit  ourselves 
then  to  giving  the  result  of  the  trial  by  saying  that 
Assi,  Ducaucquie,  Flahaut,  and  Landeck  were  ac 
quitted,  because  it  was  not  "sufficiently  proved" 
that  they  belonged  to  the  International :  that  Var- 
lin,  Malon,  Murat,  Johannard,  Pindy,  Combault, 
and  Heligon,  proved  guilty  of  having  belonged  to 
a  secret  society,  were  condemned  to  one  year's  im 
prisonment  and  a  hundred  francs  fine  ;  finally,  that 
all  the  others  were  acquitted  of  being  leaders  of  a 
secret  society,  but  being  considered  as  having  be 
longed  to  an  unauthorized  association  of  more  than 
twenty  persons,  they  were  condemned  to  two 
month's  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  twenty-five 
francs. 

We  have  said  that  this  trial  should  have  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  public  ;  unfortunately,  minds 
were  turned  in  another  direction ;  very  few  readers 
took  the  trouble  to  run  over  in  their  journals  with 
absent  eyes  the  very  summary  accounts  given  of 
the  first  hearings  ;  as  for  the  last,  at  the  time  when 
the  journals  gave  the  analysis  of  them,  the  Candida- 


214  History  of  the  International, 

ture  of  the  Prince  of  Hohenzollern  for  the  throne 
of  Spain  had  just  been  revealed  ;  the'question  of  a 
war  between  Prussia  and  France  was  agitated,  and 
closed  the  mind  to  any  other  political  anxiety. 

No  one  suspected,  July  Qth,  1870,  that  the  ob 
scure  names  of  these jvvorkingmen,  condemned  as 
members  of  a  secret  society  or  unauthorized  asso 
ciation,  would  be  very  soon  connected  with  the 
most  horrible  disasters  of  France,  and  that  these 
men,  whom  the  police  magistrate  had  just  con 
demned  to  light  penalties,  would  appear  at  the  end 
of  a  year  before  the  councils  of  war  after  having  led 
pillage,  murder,  incendiarism  for  two  months  and 
a  half  through  terrified  Paris. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  IiNTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  WAR. 

I.       THE       INTERNATIONAL        CONDEMNS       NATIONAL 
WARS. — IT    ONLY    ADMITS    SOCIAL     WARS. 

Of  all  the  questions  which  the  International  ap 
proached  in  its  general  or  federal  congresses,  or  in 
its  official  or  officious  organs,  that  upon  which  it 
varied  the  least,  that  which  is  always  solved  in  the 
same  way,  from  the  first  day  to  the  end  of  its  doc 
trine,  and  to  the  most  extreme  consequences  of  its 
principles,  was  the  question  of  war. 

It  condemned  war  at  the  same  time  in  theory  and 
in  practice  ;  it  wished  to  deprive  governments  of 
the  means  of  making  it,  by  destroying  the  standing 
armies,  and  when  it  sought  to  prove  to  us  the 
urgent  necessity  of  a  social  revolution,  conducted 
simultaneously  in  all  the  European  states,  the  argu 
ment  on  which  it  insisted  most  vigorously,  was  that 
the  actual  governments  could  not  live  without 
armies,  and  that  the  armies  which  they  possessed, 
led  them  fatally  to  make  war  against  each  other, 

The  theory  which  the  fathers  of  the  new  dema 
gogic  church  displayed  a  hundred  times  in  their 
speeches  or  in  their  writings,  can  be  summed  up 
nearly  in  this  way  : 

The  causes  of  wars  in  the  actual  state  of  Europe 
are  of  two  principal  kinds  :  the  one  belongs  to  the 
economic  anarchy,  the  other  to  the  personal  ambi- 


216  History   of  the  International. 

tion  of  the  sovereigns  and  the  princes,  to  the  selfish 
interests  of  the  governing  class. 

The  consequences  of  every  war  are  at  least  as 
disastrous  to  the  conqueror  as  to  the  conquered,  for 
the  people  which  triumphs  loses  generally  a  part  of 
its  liberties  because  its  rulers  profit  by  the  eclat 
and  the  power  which  their  victories  give  them, 
either  by  restricting  the  liberties  already  existing  or 
by  delaying  concessions  which  they  would  have 
been  obliged  to  make. 

The  "  workingmen  ""especially,  upon  whom  war 
presses  more  heavily  than  on  the  other  classes, 
both  by  the  augmentation  of  taxes  of  all  kinds 
which  it  causes,  and  by  the  increase  of  the  tax  of 
blood,  payed  almost  exclusively  by  them,  never  have 
any  chance  of  withdrawing  from  these  sanguinary 
contests,  of  which  the  profit  goes  to  the  privileged 
classes. 

Even  among  the  conquerors,  the  workingmen 
suffer  directly  and  indirectly  from  the  best  con 
ducted  and  most  happily  terminated  war,  while 
they  receive  no  kind  of  profit  from  the  .most  bril 
liant  victories. 

Even  among  the  conquered  (we  are  giving 
always  the  theory  of  the  International,)  the  bour 
geois  classes  profit  by  the  most  unfortunate  war. 
In  fact,  they  gain  this  at  least,  that  political  ques 
tions,  placed  in  the  fore-ground,  drive  off  for  a  little 
time  the  study  and  solution  of  social  problems ; 
moreover,  the  defeat  of  their  country,  by  renewing 
national  hatreds  ready  to  die  out,  render  more 
difficult  the  understanding  between  the  working- 


History  of    the  International.  217 

hien  of  all  Europe,  without  which  social  revolution 
is  almost  impossible. 

Such  is  the  resume  as  faithful  and  exact  as  we 
can  make  it,  of  the  doctrines  displayed  at  all  times 
and  under  all  forms  in  the  journals  and  reunions  of 
the  International. 

By  the  side  of  many  errors  and  illusions,  this 
theory  contains,  it  seems  to  us,  a  sufficiently 
strong  element  of  truth. 

The  Crimean  war,  by  permitting  Napoleon  III 
to  establish  more  firmly  his  despotism,  by  virtue  of 
the  prestige  by  which  it  held  its  power,  gained  by  a 
night's  attempt,  retarded  for  ten  years  the  awaken 
ing  of  liberal  ideas  in  France. 

The  conquered  Russians  have,  on  the  contrary, 
owed  to  their  defeat  political  reforms  of  great  im 
portance  and  the  prompt  construction  of  their  net 
work  of  railroads. 

Vanquished  in  1859  at  Magenta  and  at  Solferino, 
Austria  found  itself  thrown  by  its  defeat  into  the 
course  of  most  useful  reforms,  while  the  victorious 
emperor  of  the  French  only  made  some  feeble 
accessions  to  liberal  ideas,  and,  maintaining  the 
reality  of  his  absolute  power,  continued  to  see  in 
liberty  only  a  simple  "  article  of  exportation,"  ac 
cording  to  the  fortunate  expression  of  Prevost-Par- 
adol. 

France,  crushed  in  1870  and  1871  by  the  armies 
of  all  Germany,  gained  at  least  by  its  defeat  the 
fall  of  the  malefactors  who  stole  the  power  in  the 
dark  night  of  December  2nd,  and  recovered  the  free 
disposition  of  itself.  The  victorious  Germans  be^ 
10 


2 1 8  History  of  the  International 

came  by  the  very  fact  of  their  victory  the  humble 
subjects  of  Prussia,  and  lost  in  liberty  and  auton  - 
omy  more  than  they  gained  in  prestige. 

It  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  wars  which 
we  have  just  recalled  in  no  way  profited  the 
laboring  classes  of  the  countries  which  bore  oft' 
great  victories,  and  that  the  Germans,  especially, 
lost  by  the  triumph  of  the  Germanic  Cagsar  all  hope 
of  being  employed  for  a  long  time  in  our  work 
shops,  in  our  magazines  and  our  bureaus,  where 
they  found  positions  at  the  same  time  more  agree 
able  and  more  lucrative  than  those  which  the 
Prussian  conquerors  can  offer  them  to-day. 

It  is  evident  that  we  have  not  taken  sides,  and 
that  we  render  justice  to  the  International  itself 
when  we  can  discover  in  the  torrents  of  error  and 
madness  which  it  has  poured  forth  over  the  world, 
some  just  and  wise  ideas. 

But  we  must  not  exaggerate  praise.  The  Inter 
national  endeavored  less  to  prevent  war  than  to 
change  its  place. 

Up  to  the  present  time  nations  have  hated  and 
fought  against  nations,  while  recommending  con 
cord  and  mutual  affection  to  the  children  of  the 
same  country. 

The  International  changes  all  this.  It  no  longer 
recognizes  the  distinctions  of  nationalities ;  "la 
bor,"  it  says,  "  has  no  boundaries  ;"  but  it  excites 
the  workingmen  of  all  countries  to  hate,  combat, 
plunder,  and  oppress  those  whom  they  call  bour~ 
geois,  capitalists,  speculators,  monopolists,  parasites, 
that  is  to  say,  the  classes  which  live  not  by  man- 


History   of   the  International.  219 

ual  labor,  but  by  intellectual  labor,  or  by  the  fruits 
saved  from  any  labor  whatever.  It  abolishes  na 
tional  wars,  but  only  to  replace  them  by  social 
wars. 

The  general  council  of  London  by  no  means 
conceals  it,  and  in  its  manifesto  concerning  the 
civil  war  in  France,  it  says  without  circumlocution 
that  the  only  war  which  can  be  justified  in  all 
history,  is  that  of  the  enslaved  against  their  en 
slavers.* 

It  was  in  order  to  more  easily  gain  the  victory  in 
this  war  that  the  International,  and  with  it  all  the 
divisions  of  the  demagogic  party,  so  energetically 
claimed  the  suppression  of  standing  armies,  which 
were  guilty  of  impeding  the  realization  of  their 
plans  of  social  regeneration,  and  of  retarding  the 
"  return  of  landed  property  to  social  collectivity." 

The  congress  of  Geneva,  in  1866,  approved  a 
report  decisive  in  its  condemnation  of  standing 
armies,  the  general  arming  of  the  people,  and  its 
instruction  in  the  use  of  arms. 

In  1867,  the  congress  of  Lausanne  decided  unani 
mously  "  to  adhere  fully  and  entirely  to  the  congress 
of  peace,  to  sustain  it  energetically,  and  participate 
in  all  that  it  may  undertake  in  order  to  realize  the 
abolition  of  standing  armies  and  the  maintenance 
of  peace,  so  as  to  arrive  as  soon  as  possible  at  the 
emancipation  of  the  working  class  and  its  deliver 
ance  from  the  power  and  influence  of  capital,  as 

*  ...  in  the  war  of  the  enslaved  against  their  enslavers, 
the  only  justifiable  war  in  history.— ( The  Civil  War  in  France ,  p. 
3'J 


220  llistory  of   the  International. 

well  as  the  formation  of  a  confederation  of  free 
states  of  all  Europe." 

^The  congress  of  Brussels  finally  debated  ;  at 
length  the  same  question  of  peace  and  war,  and 
sought  a  practical  means  which  would  permit 
"  workingmen  "  to  render  wars  impossible  hence 
forward. 

M.  De  Paepe,  of  Brussels,  proposed  two  means  : 
the  first  was  "  the  refusal  of  military  service,  or," 
added  he,  "  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  since 
the  armies  must  necessarily  be  consumers,  the  re 
fusal  of  labor."  The  second  was,  "  to  solve  the 
social  question  itself,"  that  is  to  say,  to  accomplish 
European  social  revolution.  "  This  is,"  he  added, 
"  the  method  which  the  continual  development  of 
the  International  will  make  triumph." 

Another  orator,  also  Belgian,  named  Spehl,  pro* 
posed  "  exciting  against  war  the  conspiracy  of  the 
whole  working  people." 

The  congress  in  its  last  sitting,  listened  to  the 
reading  of  a  plan  of  resolutions  presented  by 
Becker,  "  in  the  name  of  the  group  of  the  section  of 
the  German  language,"  which,  in  the  midst  of  the 
the  customary  invectives  against  the  military,  the 
ruling  classes,  etc.,  contained  this  prophetic  sen 
tence  ; 

"  Considering  that  every  European  war,  and  es 
pecially  a  war  between  France  and  Germany,  should 
be  regarded  to-day  as  a  civil  war,  profitable  at  most 
to  Russia,  whose  social  state  is  not  yet  at  the  height 
of  modern  civilization." 

However,  the  resolutions  adopted  at  "  administra- 


History  of  the  International.  221 

tive  meetings,"  that  is  to  say,  in  private  sessions, 
were  not  those  of  the  group  of  the  German  lan 
guage,  but  nearly  those  which  the  French  group 
presented,  by  the  organ  of  M.  Tolain.  The  con 
gress  protested  against  war  '•  with  the  greatest  en 
ergy,"  invited  all  the  sections  of  the  association  to 
act  "  with  the  greatest  activity"  in  their  respective 
countries,  so  as  to  prevent  "  a  war  of  people  with 
people,  which  to-day  can  only  be  considered  as  a 
civil  war."  Finally,  adding  to  the  ideas  of  Tolain 
the  hardly  practical  plan  of  De  Paepe,  it  recom 
mended  to  the  woikingmen  "  to  cease  all  work  in 
case  war  should  break  out  in  their  respective  coun 
tries  ; "  and  it  finished  by  urging  all  workingmcn  to 
sustain  "  this  war  of  the  nations  against  war." 

II.    PROTEST    OF    THE    INTERNATIONAL  AGAINST    THE 
WAR    OF     iS/O. 

Such  were  the  dispositions  of  the  adherents  of 
the  International,  when  the  conflict  between  France 
and  Prussia  supervened. 

Three  days  before  war  was  declared,  Lc  Reveil, 
in  its  number  of  July  I2th,  published  a  manifesto  of 
the  Paris  members  of  the  association  "  to  the  work- 
ingmen  of  all  countries." 

Very  just  ideas  were  mingled  in  it  with  inevitable 
invectives  and  commonplaces. 

"  In  response,"  we  read,  "  to  the  warlike  acclama- 
ations  of  those  who  are  exempt  from  the  tax  of 
blood  or  who  find  in  public  misfortunes  a  source 
of  new  speculations,  we  protest,  we  who  desire  peace, 


222  History  of  the  International. 

labor  and  liberty.     War  is  the  indirect  means  of 
governments  for  stifling  public  liberty." 

The  signers  addressed  themselves  particularly  to 
their  brothers  in  Germany,  to  urge  them  not  to  listen 
to  "  the  mercenary  or  servile  voices  which  should 
seek  to  deceive  them  concerning  the  true  spirit  of 
France,"  and  to  their  brothers  in  Spain,  to  recom 
mend  to  them  not  to  let  themselves  be  transported 
by  the  conquests  of  their  more  recent  revolution, 

This  address  bore  a  very  considerable  number  of 
signatures.  We  notice  among  others  those  of  MM. 
Tolain,  Murat,  Avrial,  Pindy,  Theisz,  Fournaise, 
Avoine  Junior,  Camelinat,  Varlin,  Langevin,  Jo- 
hannard,  Assi,  Megy,  Bertin,  Cyrille,  Rousseau, 
Delaunay,  Levy,  Dupont,  Pothier,  Chalain,  etc,, 
who  some  months  later  were  to  sit  in  the  Hotel  de 
mile  as  members  either  of  the  central  committee,  or 
of  the  Commune.  During  the  days  following,  a 
large  number  of  the  sections  of  the  International 
sent  their  adhesion  to  this  manifesto. 

July  23nd,  the  general  council  addressing,  in  its 
turn,  "  the  members  of  the  International  Associa 
tion  of  Workingmen  of  Europe  and  the  United 
States,"  related  after  its  fashion,  the  history  of 
France  during  twenty  years,  and  that  of  Prussia 
during  ten  years.  It  stigmatized  with  the  same 
energy  "  Louis  Bonaparte  "  and  "  Bismark  "  and  in 
the  midst  of  much  violence,  abuse,  and  calumny, 
hit  upon  some  words  and  ideas  truly  just  in  their 
brutality : 

"The  plot  of  war  of  July,  1870,  is  only  a  new 
coup  d^ Etat  of  December,  1851,  revised  and  cor- 


History   of  the  International.  223 

rected.  Whatever  may  be  the  issue  of  this  war, 
the  funeral  knell  of  the  second  empire  has  already 
sounded  in  Paris.  On  the  side  of  Germany 
the  war  is  defensive,  but  who  is  it  who  has  put 
Germany  to  the  necessity  of  defending  itself?  It 
is  Bismark  who  has  conspired  with  Louis  Bona 
parte  in  the  aim  of  stifling  popular  opposition  at 
home,  in  the  interior,  and  to  take  away  Germany 
from  the  dynasty  of  the  Hohenzollerns.  If  instead 
of  having  been  gained,  the  battle  of  Sadowa  had 
been  lost,  the  French  battalions  would  have  over 
flowed  Germany  as  allies  of  Prussia.  After  the 
victory,  did  Prussia  think  one  moment  of  opposing 
free  Germany  to  enslaved  France  ?  Quite  the  con 
trary.  The  Bonaparte  regime,  which  had  only 
flourished  until  then  on  side  of  the  Rhine,  has  to 
day  its  counterpart  on  the  other.  In  that  state  of 
things,  what  could  result  except  war  ? " 

The  authors  of  this  manifesto  lacked  neither 
memory  nor  perspicacity  : 

"  If  the  working  classes  of  Germany  permit  the 
actual  war  to  lose  its  strictly  defensive  character, 
and  to  degenerate  into  an  offensive  war  against  the 
French  people,  a  victory  or  a  defeat  will  be  equally 
disastrous,  all  the  miseries  which  desolated  Germany 
alter  its  war  for  independence  will  be  revived  with 
increased  intensity." 

The  grand  council  then  recalled  several  mani- 
toes  voted  by  different  German  sections  of  the  In 
ternational,  in  response  to  the  address  of  the 
French  workingmen.  Some  of  these  quotations 
are  wise  invitations  to  concord.  Others,  on  the 


224  History  of  the  International. 

contrary,  are  only  an  appeal  to  social  war.  Thus, 
at  Chemnitz,  the  general  council  tells  us,  a  reunion 
of  delegates  representing  50,000  Saxon  working- 
men,  after  having  declared  that  according  to  its 
view,  the  war  which  had  just  broken  out  was  purely 
dynastic,  adds ;  "  We  will  never  forget  that  the 
workingmen  of  all  countries  are  ^our  friends,  and 
the  despots  of  all  nations  our  enemies." 

According  to  the  International  the  despcts  are 
all  those  men  who  do  not  gain  their  support  by 
manual  labor ;  we  must  not  forget  this  in  judging 
of  the  true  meaning  of  this  phrase. 

After  the  first  series  of  our  disasters  and  the  fall 
of  the  empire,  a  movement  of  sympathy  in  favor  of 
republican  France  appeared  in  the  sections  of  the 
International,  not  only  in  England,  but  also  in  Ger 
many. 

We  will  not  quote  in  support  of  this  fact  all  the 
official  documents  which  we  find  in  the  journals  of 
the  association.  But  we  are  bound  at  least  to  make 
known  a  manifesto  very  honorable  for  the  socialist 
party  beyond  the  Rhine,  which  was  published  in 
the  duchy  of  Brunswick,  at  Wolfenbiittel,  as  soon 
as  the  revolution  of  September  4th,  was  learned 
there : 

"As  long,"  it  says,  "as  the  armies  of  Napoleon 
threatened  Germany,  it  was  our  duty,  as  Germans, 
to  push  to  the  end  the  war  of  defense,  the  war  in 
the  name  of  the  independence  of  Germany.  But 
in  presence  of  a  victory  so  glorious,  it  is  more  than 
ever  our  duty  not  to  be  intoxicated  by  it,  but  to 
ask  ourselves  calmly  what  we  have  to  do." 


History  of  the  International.  225 

actual  democratic  government  (that  of  Paris)  will 
be  penetrated  with  the  feeling  that  the  French  and 
German  peoples  are  brothers,  which  have  the  same 
interests,  the  same  duty  of  uniting  in  the  spirit  of 
modern  times,  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  arts  of 
peace.  It  will  seek  to  free  France  from  the  enemy 
by  peace.  But  it  is  necessary  that  this  peace  be 
made  easy  for  it,  that  is  to  say,  an  honorable  peace 
must  be  offered  to  them.  It  is  in  the  interest  of 
Germany  to  conclude  an  honorable  peace  with 
France ,  for  a  disgraceful  peace  will  be  only  a  truce 
which  will  last  until  the  time  when  France  shall 
feel  herself  strong  enough  to  shake  off  the  disgrace. 
It  belongs  to  the  German  workingmen  to  declare  that, 
in  the  interest  of  France  and  Germany,  they  have 
decided  not  to  tolerate  an  injury  done  to  the  French 
people,  after  it  has  freed  itself  for  ever  from  the  in 
famous  person  who  disturbed  the  peace.  It  is  in 
the  name  of  the  socialist  democratic  party  of  work 
ingmen,  that  we  protest  against  the  annexation  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine.  And  we  are  responsible  for 
all  the  German  workingmen.  The  German  work 
ingmen,  in  the  interest  of  France  and  of  Germany, 
of  peace  and  of  liberty,  in  the  interest  of  Western 
civilization  as  opposed  to  Cossack  barbarism,  will 
not  suffer  the  annexation  of  the  French  provinces." 
The  authors  of  this  declaration  went  so  far  as  to 
quote  a  saying,  as  hard  as  just,  from  a  letter  of  one 
of  their  friends  in  London :  "  As  Germany  com 
menced  by  only  finding  its  unity  in  the  Prussian 
barracks,  it  is  a  chastisement  which  it  has  well 
merited."  But  as  it  must  be,  in  all  which  emanates 

10* 


226  History   of  the  International. 

from  the  International,  that  the  best  things  (when  by 
chance  we  find  some  good  in  such  documents)  are 
spoiled  and  destroyed  by  the  most  deplorable  ideas, 
this  very  sage  manifesto  concludes  with  a  cry  in 
favor  of  "  the  International  contest  of  the  proleta 
riat  ; "  now  we  have  established  by  numerous  proofs 
that  the  contest  preached  and  dreamed  by  the  asso 
ciation  whose  history  we  are  tracing,  is  only  and 
can  only  be  the  most  violent  and  most  implac 
able  of  social  wars. 

As  soon  as  this  document  appeared,  General 
Vogel  von  Falkenstein  arrested  the  members  of  the 
workingmen's  democratic  socialist  committee,  and 
sent  them  chained  to  the  railroad  which  transported 
them  to  Koenigsberg.  5uch  is  at  least  the  account 
which  we  find  in  L EgalitQ  of  September  22nd, 
1870,  with  the  signature  of  the  two  most  celebrated 
chiefs  of  the  socialist  party  beyond  the  Rhine, 
MM.  Bebel  and  Liebknecht. 

We  will  not  extend  farther  these  quotations  from 
manifestoes  which  the  war,  whose  first  act  had  just 
closed,  gave  birth  to  in  almost  all  the  sections  of 
the  International.  It  remains  for  us  to  see  how  the 
French  members  of  the  association  conducted 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  these  terrible  events. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AND  THE  REVOLUTIONS. 

THE  4TH  OF  SEPTEMBER  AT  PARIS  AND  IN  THE 
PROVINCES. THE  SIEGE  OF  PARIS. THE  CAPIT 
ULATION. — DISORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SOUND 

PARTY    OF    THE     NATIONAL     GUARD     OF     PARIS. 

ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    CENTRAL     COMMITTEE. — 
THE    l8TH    OF    MARCH. 

We  have  seen  that  the  German  members  of  the 
International  while  protesting  against  the  war  of 
1870,  recognized  boldly  the  necessity  of  defending 
German  territory  against  the  aggression  of  France. 
They  only  condemned  it,  in  an  absolute  manner, 
when  it  had  changed  its  character  and  become  on 
the  part  of  Prussia,  a  war  of  conquest.  Still  their 
protest  had  no  other  effect  than  to  cause  the  arrest 
of  those  who  had  written  it,  and  we  have  never 
heard  that  a  single  soldier  of  the  regular  army  or  of 
the  militia,  deserted  or  refused  to  fight  in  order  to 
remain  faithful  to  the  theories  of  the  association 
concerning  wars  between  nations. 

It  was  not  the  same  with  us,  and  the  French 
members  of  the  International  only  showed  courage 
and  resolution  for  civil  war. 

We  regret  not  to  be  able  any  longer,  in  this  last 
part  of  our  work,  to  corroborate  our  assertions  as 
we  have  constantly  done,  up  to  this  time,  by  official 
proDfs,  by  unimpeachable  evidences.  It  is  a  too 


228  History  of   the  International. 

recent  history ;  the  documents  which  will  serve  to 
write  it  are  still  in  the  hands  of  the  councils  of 
war  and  the  examining  magistrates.  We  shall 
hope,  however,  that  faith  will  be  given  to  our  asser 
tions,  because  they  all  relate  to  facts  for  which  pub 
lic  notoriety  can,  up  to  a  certain  point,  replace 
written  proofs. 

Every  one  remembers  the  stupor  and  indignation 
which  was  excited  everywhere  in  France  by  the 
announcement  of  our  first  disasters,  of  that  frightful 
day  of  August  6th,  in  which  we  lost  two  great 
battles. 

The  first  cry  of  every  Frenchman  was  then  for 
arms.  Each  one  swore  to  himself  to  brave  every 
peril  in  order  to  repulse  the  enemy  who  defiled  by 
his  presence  the  sacred  soil  of  the  country. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  enthusiasm,  the 
demagogic  party  was  distinguished  by  its  ardor  in 
claiming  guns  ;  but  it  was  not  against  the  foreigner 
that  it  proposed  to  turn  them.  One  might  already 
guess  its  sinister  projects  on  the  day  when  the 
wretches  assassinated  the  firemen  of  La  Villette. 
We  do  not  forget  that  on  that  day,  almost  at  the 
very  place  where  the  crime  was  committed,  a  reun 
ion  of  the  International  was  to  have  been  held, 
which  was  forbidden  at  the  last  moment,  and  that 
the  members  of  the  association,  who  had  come  to 
this  rendezvous,  blocked  up  the  street  at  the  time 
when  the  post  of  firemen  was  attacked.*  Let  us 

*  A  writer  devoted  to  the  cause  of  demagogism,  Madame  Andre 
Leo,  addressed  to  different  Paris  journals,  some  days  after  this  assas 
sination,  a  letter  in  which,  conforming  to  the  traditions  of  her 


History   of   the  International.  229 

not  forget,  also,  that  one  of  the  assassins,  Eudes,  con 
demned  to  death  for  his  participation  in  this  crime, 
and  set  at  liberty  some  days  later,  September  4th, 
as  a  political  culprit,  was,  after  the  i8th  of  March, 
one  of  the  generals  of  the  Commune. 

party,  she  accused  the  police  of  having  slaughtered  the  unfortu 
nate  firemen  of  La  Vilkite  in  order  to  accuse  the  International  of 
their  death.  Do  not  the  facts  which  she  relates  turn  against  her 
clients?  The  reader  shall  decide  for  himself.  We  let  Madame 
Andre  Leo  speak  for  herself: 

"  Last  Sunday,  a  reunion  of  the  International  was  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  Rue  de  Flandrcs  at  two  o'clock,  (which  generally  means 
three.)  The  threats  of  the  commissary  of  police  to  the  doorkeeper 
of  the  hall  prevented  this  reunion  at  the  last  moment,  so  that  a 
large  number  of  persons  who  had  come  to  attend  it,  found  them 
selves  at  from  three  to  four  o'clock  on  the  boulevard  at  the  end  of 
the  Rue  de  Flandres.  They  were  peaceable  groups.  They  con 
versed  upon  public  misfortunes.  Upcn  what  other  subject  could 
they  speak? 

"  I  left  that  point  at  half  past  three,  a  little  before  the  event, 
which  I  learned  only  in  the  evening  from  several  friends.  They 
experienced,  like  myself,  a  dolorous  stupefaction.  They  had  been 
witnesses  of  it,  since  our  people  at  that  hour  filled  up  the  boulevard. 
This  coincidence  struck  us  ;  we  thought  that  they  wished  to  compro 
mise  the  International.  Who  ?  We  did  not  know ;  but  we  re 
membered  the  saying,  Whom  will  the  event  profit  ? 

"  Monday  we  read  in  Le  Petit  Moniteur :  '  The  leader  of  the 
attack  seemed  to  be  one  named  Perin,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
International.'  The  International  has  no  leaders,  and  Perin  by  no 
means  figures  in  the  list  of  the  arrested. 

"  And  now  La  Gazette  des  Tribunanx  tells  us  of  the  existence  of 
daggers  said  to  belong  to  the  International,  giving  thus  the  appear 
ance  of  a  verified  fact  to  an  infamous  invention.  The  Interna 
tional  has  no  daggers.  It  did  not  take  part  in  the  attack  of  La 
Villettc.  It  believed  only  to  have  recognized  there  Guerin  escaped 
from  Blois." 

We  borrow  this  letter  from  L* Egalite  vi  Geneva,  August  27th, 
l8/0. 


230  History  of   the  International. 

On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  September  3rd,  \ve 
learned  of  the  disaster  of  Sedan.  On  the  morrow, 
at  the  same  hour,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Toulouse,  and 
Paris  proclaimed  the  republic.  The  cockneys  were 
in  ecstacy  over  the  simultaneity  of  these  move 
ments,  and  found  in  that  the  proof  that  they  were 
entirely  spontaneous.  We  are  permitted  to  recall 
to  the  men  who  reasoned  thus,  that  after  the  affair 
of  the  funeral  of  Victor  Noir  failed,  Varlin  and 
Bastelica  exchanged  letters  in  which  they  spoke  of 
the  necessity  of  an  organization,  of  an  understanding 
which  henceforward  would,  in  grave  circumstances, 
make  their  friends  obedient  in  all  France  to  one 
and  the  same  word  of  command.  It  is  lawful  to 
believe  that  the  understanding  was  established  dur 
ing  the  few  months  which  separated  the  drama  of 
Auteuil  from  the  tragedy  of  Sedan. 

At  Paris,  it  is  true,  the  chiefs  of  the  Interna 
tional  had  only  seized,  on  the  4th  of  September, 
positions  relatively  secondary ;  committees  of  all 
kinds,  (of  surveillance,  of  vigilance,  of  equipment, 
etc.,)  established  in  the  town  halls,  commands  in 
the  National  Guard,  etc.  We  have  already  quoted 
ourselves  the  letter  in  which  Dupont  complained 
so  bitterly  to  Varlin  of  seeing  "  the  Jules  Favres, 
the  Xjambettas  "  in  power,  and  advised  letting  tJiis 
bourgeois  vermin  ruin  itself  in  signing  the  shameful 
peace  which  Prussia  imposed  upon  us.  However, 
it  must  be  remarked,  that  if  the  notoriety  of  the 
deputies  of  the  extreme  left  had  in  some' manner 
imposed  them  at  Paris  as  members  of  the  provi-  < 
sional  government,  the  power  had  fallen  at  Mar- 


History  of  the  International.  231 

seilles  and  Lyons   into  the  hands  of   the  lowest 
demagogism. 

The  Commune,  which  had  been  installed  at 
Lyons,  commenced  by  assuming  the  red  flag, 
which  is,  as  we  know,  the  flag  of  the  International. 
At  Marseilles  it  had  been  the  same,  and  if  the  pre 
fect  nominated  by  the  municipal  provisional  com 
mittee,  M.  Labadie,  belonged  no  more  to  the  asso 
ciation  than  M.  Challemel-Lacour,  the  prefect  sent 
to  Lyons  by  the  government  of  the  national  defense, 
these  two  functionaries  of  the  new  power  were 
none  the  less  ruled  by  a  crowd  of  vagabonds  who 
imposed  on  them  all  their  wishes.  We  know  what 
role  the  civic  guards  played  at  Marseilles,  and  the 
clubbists  of  the  Rotonde  at  Lyons  ;  now  the  violent 
measures  which  these  men,  the  scum  of  the  popu 
lation  of  the  two  cities,  undertook  and  executed 
themselves,  or  which  they  imposed  upon  M.  Chal- 
lemal-Lacour  and  M.  Esquiros,  belonged  nearly  all 
to  those  who  had  extolled  for  two  years  the  publi 
cists  and  the  orators  of  the  International. 

1hQ  federation  of  the  Communes,  decreed  at  Lyons 
by  the  statesmen  of  the  Rotonde,  is  the  basis  of  the 
political  organization  claimed  by  the  association. 
The  Ligue  du  Midi,  which  made  so  much  noise  in 
the  departments  of  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean, 
was,  with  some  variations,  nearly  the  same  thing  as 
this  famous  federation.  The  partisans  of  the  fed- 
emtion  and  the  adherents  of  the  Ligue  dtt,  Midi 
signalized  themselves  by  vying  with  each  other  in 
their  hatred  against  regular  armies,  as  in  their  zeal 
in  arresting  the  generals  and  lavishing  on  them  the 


232  History  of   the  International. 

worst  treatment  and  insults.  Both  armed  with 
strength  the  men  who  were  enrolled  under  their  red 
rag  ;  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ever  Jed  them 
against  the  Prussians ;  both  thrust  them  later  into 
civil  war  ;  both,  finally,  tried  to  utilize  the  services 
of  the  famous  citizen  General  Cluseret,  the  grand 
tactician  of  the  International,  and  both,  thank  God, 
were  successively  defeated  in  all  their  battles.  But 
if  we  cannot  yet,  for  want  of  sufficient  information 
concerning  facts  and  persons,  establish  what  is  the 
respective  part  of  each  division  of  the  demagogic 
party  in  the  troubles  of  the  Rhone  and  the  mouths 
of  the  Rhone,  it  is  nevertheless  clear  .that  the  men 
and  the  ideas  of  the  International  played  a  great 
role  there.* 

At  Paris,  one  could  guess  in  the  first  part  of  the 
the  siege  what  was  the  plan  of  the  too  famous  as 
sociation.  Its  friends  and  bribed  orators  spoke  no 
longer  of  the  suppression  of  the  frontiers  and 
seemed  animated,  with  respect  to  the  Prussians, 
with  sentiments  analogous  to  those  which  we  all 
experienced.  We  could  even,  if  our  memories  do 
not  deceive  us,  number  several  of  them  among  the 
partisans  of  war  to  the  utmost  and  of  a  sortie  en 
masse.  But  what  was  especially  remarkable,  was 
the  order  with  which  the  battalions,  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  social  revolution,  laid  in  stores  of  chasse- 
pots  and  cartridges. 

It  was  permitted  to  believe  that  these  intrepid 

*  The  successor  of  of  M.  Labadie  to  the  prefecture  of  Mar 
seilles,  M.  Delpech,  a  book-keeper  September  4th,  and  general  in 
the  month  of  November,  thanks  to  M.  Gambetta,  was  a  member  of 
the  International. 


History  of   the  International.  233 

warriors  were  going  to  cause  terrible  moments  to 
the  subjects  of  the  king  of  Prussia.  However, 
when  the  battalions  on  the  march  were  sent  to  the 
out-posts,  it  was  perceived  that  they  were  those  of 
the  most  International  arrondissements  who  applied 
themselves  with  the  most  zeal  to  "  falling  back  in 
good  order "  or  even  to  flying  in  disorder  at  the 
first  attack,  at  the  first  alarm,  and  General  Clement 
Thomas  pointed  out  this  instructive  fact  to  the 
leaders  of  the  Journal  officiel. 

On  the  other  hand,  throughout  the  entire  siege, 
the  persons  engaged  in  the  revolutionary  manifes 
tations  and  the  coup-de-main  attempts,  belonged  al 
most  exclusively  to  the  Jacobin  party;  the  Inter 
national  refrained  en  masse  as  well  October  3ist  as 
January  22nd. 

What  then  were  they  doing  ?  They  were  hold 
ing  themselves  in  reserve,  wishing  neither  to  ex 
pose  their  precious  welfare  against  the  Prussians, 
nor  to  exhaust  themselves  in  useless  skirmishes 
against  power,  nor  to  foolishly  take  possession  of 
the  Hotel deville  just  in  order  to  have  the  shame  of 
opening  the  gates  of  famished  Paris  to  the  enemy. 
While  waiting,  they  recruited,  counted,  organized, 
and  increased  each  day  of  waiting  their  stores  of 
cartridges — without  mentioning  those  who,  in  the 
artillery  of  the  National  Guard,  studied  in  their 
leisure  moments  the  art  of  loading  cannon  and 
maneouvering  the  mitrailleuse. 

At  last  famished  Paris  was  obliged  to  capitulate, 
and  the  Parisians  were  able  to  go  out  of  the  walls, 
within  which  they  had  been  shut  up  for  four 
months  and  a  half.  The  most  of  those  who  pro- 


234  History  0f    tJw  International. 

fited  by  this  permission  were  the  bourgeois  in  a  hurry 
to  see  again  their  property  in  the  provinces,  or  to 
protect  interests  more  or  less  gravely  compromised 
by  the  interruption  of  communications  between  the 
departments  and  the  Capitol.  These  were  the 
leaders  of  the  trade,  the  men  of  leisure,  the  capi 
talists,  the  men  of  order.  A  large  number  wore 
the  epaulettes  of  officers  or  the  lace  of  subalterns 
in  the  National  Guard ;  their  prolonged  absence 
more  or  less  completely  disorganized  the  battalions 
of  the  central  quarters.  During  this  time,  those  of 
the  outer  quarters  no  longer  fearing  the  Prussian 
balls,  organized  in  view  of  the  social  war.  The 
federation  of  the  battalions  of  disorder  was  ac 
complished  with  little  noise  on  the  plan  of  the 
federation  of  the  workingmen's  societies.  The 
National  Guard  commenced  by  possessing,  without 
doubt,  a  central  committee  which  was  increased  each 
day  by  some  of  the  celebrities  of  the  International. 
When  the  day  fixed  for  the  entrance  of  some 
Prussian  regiments  into  a  quarter  of  Paris  arrived, 
the  occasion  was  deemed  favorable  by  the  chiefs  of 
the  association,  struck  with  the  confusion  of  what 
remained  of  the  government  at  Paris.  We  do  not 
need  to  record  here  how  the  cannon  scattered 
through  different  parts  of  the  city  were  all  at  once 
carried  off  by  the  trust-worthy  members  of  the 
central  committee,  under  pretense  of  preventing 
them  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
conducted  to  the  culminating  points  of  the  outer  ar- 
rondissements  gained  over  to  the  cause  of  social  re 
volution.  We  will  not  describe  those  eighteen  clays 
of  moral  disorder  and  intellectual  anarchy  during 


History  of  the  International.  235 

which  the  government,  disconcerted  and  disorgan 
ized,  let  the  scum  of  the  Paris  population  drown 
the  unfortunates  suspected  of  having  belonged  to 
the  police,  and  plant  the  red  flag  on  the  summit  of 
the  column  of  July. 

One  morning,  this  agony  of  the  regular  powers 
was  terminated  by  the  defeat  of  the  attempt  made 
to  retake  the  cannon  of  Montmartre.  On  that  day 
the  central  committee  inaugurated  its  bloody  power 
by  the  assassination  of  the  Generals  Lecomte  and 
Clement  Thomas. 

At  last  the  International  triumphed  ;  happily,  its 
reign  was  short. 

We  have  only  to  recall  here  the  picture  of  these 
bloody  orgies  and  the  criminal  insanities  which  ter 
rified  Europe.  Everyone  knows  them,  and  the  end 
which  we  proposed  to  ourselves  is  not  to  repeat 
once  more  this  history  already  written  so  often, 
although  the  day  in  which  it  can  be  usefully  written 
is  not  yet  come.  We  have  only  wished  to  show  by 
what  series  of  mad  ideas,  by  what  impulse  of  disor 
dered  passions,  the  men  who  associated  themselves, 
seven  years  ago,  to  accomplish  by  strikes  the  rise 
of  wages,  were  led  at  first  to  believe  that  the  em 
pire  of  the  world  would  belong  to  them,  then  to 
pollute  themselves  by  the  most  appalling  crimes  on 
the  day  when  they  saw  their  chimeras  vanish  before 
the  mournful  reality  of  defeat  and  chastisement. 

Our  work  would  be  finished  if  it  did  not  remain 
for  us  to  prove  that  not  only  the  International  is 
really  responsible  for  all  the  crimes  of  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris,  but  also  that  it  accepts,  or  rather 
claims,  this  responsibility  as  a  title  of  honor. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


THE   INTERNATIONAL    SINCE    THE    FALL    OF  THE 
COMMUNE. 

11.  >  • 

During  the  last  hours  of  the  terrible  conflict 
which  gave  Paris  back  to  France,  when  we  learned 
the  news  of  the  first  fires  lighted  by  the  soldiers  of 
the  Commune  beating  a  retreat,  the  journals  of  the 
demagogic  party  in  the  provinces  remaining  faithful 
to  the  word  of  command  given  by  the  Commune 
itself,  apropos  of  the  powder  explosion  on  the  ave 
nue  Rapp,  commenced  to  accuse  the  Versaillais  of 
having  themselves  fired  our  houses  and  our  palaces, 
in  order  to  blast  the  memory  of  the  vanquished,  to 
whom  would  be  imputed  such  a  crime. 

It  was  difficult  to  sustain  this  system  to  the  end, 
and  to  pretend  that  M.  Thiers  had  also  assassinated 
the  hostages  in  order  to  increase  the  public  indig 
nation  against  the  innocents  to  whom  it  would 
impute  the  massacre. 

Everyone  supposed  that  the  political  friends  of 
the  men  who  had  disappeared  in  these  waves  of 
blood  and  smoke,  would  endeavor  either  to  unbnr- 
den,  by  we  know  not  what  falsehoods,  their  memo 
ries  of  these  crimes,  or  to  disavow  them  entirely 
and  leave  to  them  alone  the  entire  responsibility 
of  such  guilt. 

We  saw  very  soon  that  we  were  mistaken.  The 
flames  were  still  rising  from  the  ruins  of  the  Hotel 


History  of  ike  International.  237 

de  Ville,  when  already  in  all  Europe  many  sections 
of  the  International,  and  the  largest  number  of  its 
journals,  publicly  proclaimed  their  admiration  and 
gratitude  towards  the  incendiaries, 

At  Zurich,  June  4th,  a  reunion  of  members  of 
the  International  of  that  city  declared,  unanimously, 
that  "  the  combat  sustained  by  the  Commune  of 
Paris  is  just  and  worthy,  that  it  is  in  keeping  with 
the  ideas  of  a  better  time  to  come,  and  that  all  men 
who  reflect  ought  to  fight  with  it." 

At  Brussels,  the  Belgian  section  of  the  Interna 
tional,  in  a  reunion  held  June  5th,  adopted,  also 
unanimously,  a  protest  against  the  intention  an 
nounced  by  M.  Dumortier,  of  delivering  up  as 
malefactors  under  common  law,  the  assassins  and 
incendiaries  of  Paris.  Here  is  the  complete  and 
authentic  text  of  this  protest.  Too  much  publicity 
cannot  be  given  to  such  an  act,  for  it  is  the  best 
means  of  branding  its  authors  : 

"Considering  that  M.  Dumortier  has 'thought 
fit,  in  the  sitting  of  the  chamber  of  the  25th  of  this 
month,  to  instigate  an  extreme  and  extra-legal 
measure  against  the  defenders  of  the  principles 
proclaimed  by  the  Commune  of  Paris  ; 

"  That,  in  an  intention  evidently  provoking  and 
injurious  as  regards  the  Belgians  who  shared  the 
views  and  approved  the  proceedings  of  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris,  the  said  Dumortier  has  compared 
these  glorious  defenders  of  liberty  and  of  human 
and  common  rights,  to  assassins,  to  robbers  ;  in  a 
word,  to  men  beyond  common  law  and  not  worthy 
of  being  considered  as  citizens  ; 


238  History   of   the  International. 

"  Whereas,  the  acts  accomplished  by  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris,  from  its  advent  to  the  last  day  in 
which  it  could  sustain  itself,  have  been  acts  emi 
nently  political  and  social,  having  for  their  end 
either  to  destroy  pre-existing  wrongs  or  to  inaugu 
rate  the  era  of  justice  in  political  and  social  organ 
ization  ; 

"  Whereas,  if,  in  order  to  destroy  these  wrongs 
and  make  right  prevail,  the  Commune  of  Paris 
resorted  to  force,  it  was  because  the  eternal  adver 
saries  of  right  and  justice  had  themselves  brought 
the  contest  upon  the  ground  offeree,  and  that,  never 
theless,  after  fruitless  steps  taken  at  different  times 
with  the  assailing  power,  no  one  doubts  that  force 
alone  would  have  obliged  the  reaction  to  yield 
before  the  just  claims  of  the  Commune  of  Paris  ; 

"  Considering  that,  in  these  circumstances,  it  is 
clear  that  the  assassins  were  not  on  the  side  of 
those  who  defended  the  right,  principles,  justice, 
and  liberty,  but  on 'the  side  of  those  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  employ  the  most  infamous  and  most 
extreme  means  for  stifling  forever  the  attempts  at 
vindication  ; 

"  The  congress  of  the  International  Association 
of  Workingmen  protests  in  the  most  energetic  man 
ner  against  the  calumnious  imputations  and  malig 
nant  incitements  emanating  from  M.  Dumortier  ; 
solemnly  proclaims  the  Commune  of  Paris  van 
quished  for  the  time ;  recognizes  that  it  has  mer 
ited  well  of  all  mankind,  and  that  those  who  have 
fought  for  it  have  right  to  the  respect  and  the  sym 
pathies  of  all  high-minded  men." 


History  of   the  International.  239 

At  Geneva,  two  days  before  the  entrance  of  the 
troops  of  Versailles  into  Paris,  a  reunion  of  the  In 
ternational  voted  an  address  to  the  Commune  of 
Paris,  in  which  it  declared  that  this  assembly  ex 
pressed  "  the  economic  aspirations  of  the  working 
classes,"  and  that  "  when  the  workingmen  are 
united  by  an  organization  as  vast  as  that  of  the  In 
ternational,  the  triumph  of  their  cause  is  assured." 

Paris  once  retaken,  the  organ  of  the  men  who 
had  voted  this  address,  L Egalite,  did  not  conceal 
the  admiration  which  the  crimes  by  which  its 
friends  had  crowned  their  work,  caused  it.  This 
journal  praises  "  the  people,"  who  by  burning  our 
palaces,  have  "  destroyed  the  monuments  of  bar 
barism  and  the  tabernacles  of  monarchial  prostitu 
tion." 

Here  also  quotations,  rather  long,  are  necessary 
to  show  by  what  a  fit  of  mad  rage  the  demagogic 
party  was  seized,  when  it  saw  the  victory,  which  it 
thought  it  already  held,  escape  from  it : 

"  At  the  time  when  our  brothers  and  sisters  are 
perishing  in  the  midst  of  the  flames,  forced  to  de 
fend  themselves  against  the  brigands  of  Versailles 
and  to  keep  their  promise  to  bury  themselves  under 
the  ruins  of  their  liberty  rather  than  let  themselves 
be  assassinated  by  the  Chouans ;  at  the  time  when 
those  who  are  the  dearest  to  us  in  the  world  are 
perishing,  those  who  were  the  pioneers  of  our  great 
work,  those  who  will  forever  leave  an  irreparable  void 
in  our  International  family,  we  have  not  the  heart 
to  amuse  ourselves  with  combatting  the  infamies  of 
the  reactionary  press  ;  the  future  reserves  for  us 
another  combat. 


240  ttistory   of   the  International. 

"  As  for  ourselves,  let  us  utter  one  single  wish  : 
that  this  conflagration  may  at  last  illumine  the  peo 
ple  of  the  provinces ;  that  this  conflagration  may 
kindle  vengeance  in  the  heart  of  the  people,  ven 
geance  against  the  miserable  brigands  who  could 
only  save  their  monarchical  order  by  forcing  the 
people  to  burn  themselves  under  the  rubbish  of  the 
martyred  city." 

The  same  journal  is  still  more  violent  in  its  num 
ber  of  June  loth. 

"  Our  enemies  can  threaten  us  with  surrender 
into  the  hands  of  the  hangmen  of  Versailles,  with 
expulsion  from  all  corners  of  the  civilized  world, 
with  a  fierce  pursuit  against  us  all,  who  dare  to  pro 
claim  our  adhesion  to  the  cause  of  the  Commune, 
but  our  sympathies  and  our  cooperation  will  not 
remain  less  active,  and  if  the  civilized  world  cannot 
tolerate  us,  let  it  then  get  rid  of  us  by  means  of  mas 
sacre  and  assassination,  for  in  no  way  whatever,  will 
we  ever  make  peace  with  it,  and  if  some  more  corpses 
are  necessary  to  the  reign  of  order,  let  them  have 
these  corpses,  the  civilized  world  will  only  fall  more 
quickly. 

"  Massacre  and  persecute  the  working  people,  our 
association  will  no  less  persevere  in  its  work  of 
vindication,  and  will  only  lay  down  its  arms  when 
it  shall  have  triumphed  over  your  rascality. 

"  Let  the  Marquises  of  Gallifet  ask  our  old  men 
if  they  remember  the  days  of  June  !  We  have  the 
belief  that  those  among  us  who  shall  survive  their 
murders,  will"  be  still  young  and  vigorous,  when 
they  shall  say  to  them  :  We  also  remember  the  days 


History  of   the  International.  241 

of  May,  the  massacres  of  men,  women  and  child- 
dren,  and  \ve  also  recall  the  cry :  Long  live  the 
Commune  !  Long  live  the  International  solidarity 
of  workingmen  and  workingwomen ! 

"  Foolish  and  impotent  assassins  of  Versailles, 
what  do  you  bring  to  France  to  make  her  forget  your 
butcheries  ?  Nothing  but  cannonades,  destruction, 
transportations,  dark  conspiracies  for  the  ree's- 
tablishment  of  a  monarchy,  and  in  the  distance  the 
contest  between  imbecile  pretenders,  and  new  mas 
sacres  in  the  name  of  order, — the  order  of  the 
grave.  No,  that  is  not  what  can  pacify  the  world. 
The  work  of  pacification  was  brought  us  by  the 
Commune,  the  Chonans  have  hindered  it  from  the 
first  moment,  they  have  barred  the  way  to  social 
reforms,  by  forcing  all  the  population  to  occupy  it 
self  only  with  military  organization ;  no  matter, — 
we  knew  what  the  Commune  brought  us,  we  have 
told  it  in  our  preceding  numbers,  and  we  will  re 
turn  to  it  again  and  always  until  the  definite  tri 
umph  of  the  International  revolution  of  working- 
men." 

The  German  adherents  of  the  International  also 
declared  themselves,  in  their  journals  and  their  re 
unions,  in  complete  community  of  ideas  with  their 
"  brothers  "  of  Paris.  A  socialist  sheet  published 
at  Leipsic  under  the  auspices  of  two  members  of 
the  Reichstag,  MM.  Liebknecht  and  Bebel,  did  not 
hesitate  to  print  the  following :  "  We  are  and  \V6 
declare  ourselves  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  Com 
mune  of  Paris,  and  we  are  ready  to  sustain  its  acts 
at  every  moment  and  against  everybody."  M.  Be* 
1 1 


242  History  of  the  Internationa!. 

bel  himself,  as  we  read  in  different  journals,  had 
just  published  a  pamphlet  in  which  he  affirmed  to 
che  "  workingmen  of  all  nations  "  that  the  associa 
tion  is  not  crushed  under  the  weight  of  the  events 
at  Paris,  and  that  it  has  lost  none  of  its  means  of 
action.  At  Barmen,  a  city  of  the  circle  of  Dussel- 
dorf,  an  assembly  convoked  by  the  democratic  so 
cialist  committee  saluted  "  the  workingmen  of 
Paris,"  as  "  the  champions  of  the  European  proleta 
riat,"  affirming  that  the  cruelties  for  which  they  had 
been  reproached  had  been  made  necessary  in  self- 
defense,  and  that  the  government  of  Versailles  was 
alone  responsible  for  them. 

The  Italian  International  played  its  part  in  this 
concert,  and  June  i8th,  a  reunion  of  the  Milanese 
sections,  at  which,  it  is  said,  2,540  members  of  the 
association  were  present,  voted  an  address  which 
closed  thus  : 

"To  capital  which  said  to  them  :  You  will  die  of  hunger,  they 
responded:  we  will  live  by  our  work. 

"  To  despotism,  they  responded  :  We  are  free  ! 

'•  To  the  cannon  and  the  chassepots  of  the  leagued  Reactionists, 
they  opposed  their  uncovered  breasts. 

"  They  fell,  but  fell  like  heroes. 

"  To-day,  the  reaction  calls  them  bandits,  places  them  under  the 
ban  of  the  human  race. 

"  Shall  we  permit  it  ?    No  ! 

"  Workingmen  !  At  the  time  when  our  brothers  of  Paris  are 
vanquished,  hunted  like  fallow  deer,  are  falling  by  hundreds  under 
the  blows  of  their  murderers,  let  us  say  to  them  :  Come  to  us,  we 
are  here  :  our  houses  are  opened  to  you,  we  will  pro'ect  you,  until 
the  near  day  of  revenge. 

"  Workingmen  !    The  principles  of  the  Commune  of  Paris  are 
ours  :  we  accept  the  responsibility  of  its  acts. 
"  Long  live  the  Social  Republic  I" 

MALDINT,  GIOVACHINI,  DUPONT  L£ON. 


Histoiy  of  the  International.  243 

At  London,  the  Internationals  considered  them 
selves  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  testify  in  a 
public  manifesto  their  adhesion  to  the  crimes  of 
their  friends  in  Paris  ;  but  in  their  private  reunions 
they  expressed  their  sympathy  for  the  Paris  Com 
munists  and  their  execration  towards  the  troops  of 
Versailles.  One  of  them,  as  an  English  journal 
relates,  even  represented  the  "  good  time  "  as  near. 
"  Very  soon,"  he  said,  "  we  can  dethrone  the 
English  monarchy,  convert  the  palace  of  Bucking 
ham  into  a  workshop,  and  throw  down  the  column 
of  the  Duke  of  York,  as  the  noble  French  people 
threw  down  the  Venddme  column." 

The  burning  of  the  Tuileries  and  the  destruction 
of  the  Venddme  column  particularly  excited  the 
admiration  and  stimulated  the  zeal  of  the  Interna 
tionals  of  London.  This  is  how  an  English  journal 
recapitulates  the  speech  pronounced  by  a  Mr.  John 
son  in  a  meeting  held  at  Sussex  Hall,  towards  the 
middle  of  the  month  of  June  : 

"  The  workingmen,  who,  since  the  fall  of  the 
Commune,  have  blushed  for  it,  are  to  be  blamed. 
The  Commune  had  perfect  right  to  have  the  hos 
tages  executed.  The  life  of  an  archbishop  is  not 
worth  an  atom  more  than  that  of  any  other  man. 
As  for  the  destruction  of  the  column  of  the  Place 
Vendome,"  the  speaker  adds,  "  I  hope  to  put  my 
own  hand  to  the  overthrow  of  certain  monuments 
which  are  the  disgrace  of  the  west  end  of  London. 
I  would  not  destroy  the  palaces,  no ;  but  I  would 
wish  to  convert  them  into  lodgings  for  the  poor. 
More  than  that,  I  would  convert  the  churches  into 
democratic  and  social  clubs/' 


244  History   of   the  International. 

These  lugubrious  boastings  were  taken  seriously 
by  some  English  papers.  Hear,  for  example,  the 
Evening  Standard  : 

"  We  ought  not  to  be  surprised  to  hear  it  said 
that  henceforward  London  will  be  the  center 
against  which  the  attacks  of  the  Socialist  party 
will  be  directed.  There  is  no  army  here,  to  repress 
by  brute  force  the  apostles  of  the  new  religion.  It 
is  at  London,  we  may  reasonably  expect  it,  that 
the  vessel  of  the  Commune,  beaten  by  the  waves, 
will  find  a  port  of  refuge.  The  philosophers  who 
contemplate  with  calmness  the  ruins  of  Paris  will 
show  themselves  less  easy  when  they  see  a  com 
mittee  of  public  welfare  installed  in  Leicester 
Square.  And  who  can  say  that  this  would  be  an 
impossible  event  ?  At  the  rate  in  which  we  are 
going  in  the  way  of  social  regeneration,  we  may 
yet  live  long  enough  to  be  witnesses  of  it." 

All  the  quotations  which  we  have  made  will 
suffice  to  show  with  the  strongest  evidence  the 
true,  secret  thought  of  the  International  concerning 
the  Commune  of  Paris,  and  the  crimes  by  whieh 
its  reign  was  opened  and  closed.  However,  it  may 
be  objected  that  such  or  such  a  section  had  not  the 
right  to  pledge  the  entire  association  ;  that  with 
much  more  reason  the  editors  of  LEgalite  are  only 
responsible  for  what  they  print  in  their  journal,  and 
that  we  cannot  without  supreme  injustice^render  a 
whole  society  of  several  millions  of  members  re 
sponsible  for  speeches  made  in  the  meetings  by  a 
few  orators  who  are,  after  all,  to  use  the  celebrated 
saying  of  M.  Rouher,  only  individuals  without 
commission. 


History   of   the  International.  245 

Unfortunately  for  the  International,  it  cannot 
invoke  arguments  of  this  kind,  for  its  legitimate 
representatives,  the  members  of  the  general  coun 
cil  of  London,  chosen,  it  is  said,  by  the  delegates 
of  all  the  sections  represented  in  the  congress, 
thought  that  they  ought  to  make  known  their 
official  opinion  in  a  joint  utterance  on  the  events 
at  Paris. 

Now  they  also  admired  the  burning  of  the  pal 
aces,  they  justified  the  massacre  of  the  hostages  : 

"  The  Paris  of  the  workingmen,  in  the  act  of  its 
own  holocaust,  has  enveloped  in  its  flames  its  mon 
uments  and  its  edifices,  so  that  the  conquerors 
who  have  rent  the  living  body  of  the  proletariat, 
can  no  longer  hope  to  enter  triumphantly  into  the 
untouched  architecture  of  their  own  homes.  If  the 
acts  of  the  workingmen  of  Paris  have  been  those 
of  vandalism,  it  was  the  vandalism  of  despair,  and 
not  that  of  triumph,  not  that  which  the  Christians 
committed  upon  the  priceless  treasures  of  heathen 
antiquity. 

"  The  true  murderer  of  the  Archbishop  Darboy 
is  M.  Thiers.  The  Commune,  many  and  many  a 
time,  offered  to  exchange  the  Archbishop  and  a 
number  of  priests  into  the  bargain  for  Blanqui 
alone,  who  was  in  the  hands  of  Thiers.  Thiers 
obstinately  refused." 

This  interminable  statement,  in  which,  in  order 
to  justify  and  glorify  them,  they  took  up,  one  by 
one,  each  of  the  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds  of  the 
Commune,  concludes  by  a  veritable  apotheosis  of 
the  men  of  March  i8th  : 


246  History  of  the  International. 

"  The  Paris  of  the  workingmen  and  its  Com 
mune  will  be  forever  regarded  as  the  precursors  of 
a  new  society.  Its  martyrs  are  placed  upon  the 
altar  of  the  great  heart  of  the  working  classes. 
History  has  already  nailed  its  exterminators  to  that 
eternal  pillory  whence  all  the  prayers  of  their 
priests  will  not  succeed  in  bringing  them  down." 

We  must  say,  however,  that  some  of  the  men 
who  passed  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  for  the  chiefs 
of  the  highest  authority  in  the  International, 
endeavored  to  free  themselves  from  their  responsi 
bility,  or  even  condemned  the  crimes  glorified  by 
their  former  friends. 

We  related  in  a  preceding  chapter  what  M.  To- 
lain  said  on  the  platform  of  the  National  Assembly 
on  the  subject  of  Communist  theories  preached  in 
its  congresses.  The  sole  fact  of  not  having  quitted 
the  Assembly  when  his  colleagues  of  the  Paris  de 
putation  laid  down  their  commissions  was,  never 
theless,  a  protest  against  the  crimes  of  the  associ 
ation  which  counted  him  among  its  founders. 

M.  Fribourg,  of  whom  we  have  also  had  occasion  to 
speak  several  times,  addressed  on  his  side  a  letter  to 
LeSoir,  in  which,  not  content  with  energetically  con 
demning  the  crimes  of  the  Commune,  he  explains, 
in  his  way,  the  march  more  and  more  criminal,  of 
the  International  of  which  he  was  also  one  of  the 
first  members  : 

"  MR.  EDITOR  : 

"A  feeling  of  reserve  which  your  readers  ought  to  appreci 
ate,  made  us  postpone  the  continuation  of  our  work  on  the  Inter 
national. 
•'  On  the  morrow  of  the  terrible  crisis  which  we  have  just  passed, 


History  of   the  International.  247 

it  seemed  to  us  suitable  to  wait  and  observe  "  the  truce  of  the  par 
ties." 

"  But  since  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  in  his  circular  to  the 
diplomatic  agents,  seems  to  confound  in  one  and  the  same  reproba 
tion  all  the  members  of  the  International,  and  as,  through  ignor 
ance  doubtless,  he  makes  the  founders  of  the  association  responsi 
ble  for  the  crimes  committed  in  Paris  by  a  handful  of  wretches,  the 
scum  'of  all  parties,  our  duty  is  to  continue  our  recital. 

"  We  hold  to  what  is  well  known,  that  an  honest  mind  has  never 
been  able  to  conceive  the  thought  of  giving  birth  to  a  society  "  of 
war  and  hatred,"  and  that  the  history  of  the  International  is  di 
vided  into  two  parts  :  to  the  first  period,  which  we  call  Parisian, 
belong  the  formation  and  the  two  first  congresses  of  Geneva,  '66, 
and  Lausanne,  '67.  During  this  time  the  association  was  mtitnalist, 
that  is  to  say,  demanding  for  collective  action  only  the  guaranty  of 
execution  of  contracts  freely  discussed,  freely  agreed  to. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  trials  begun  by  the  empire,  the  moral  di 
rection  escaped  necessarily  from  the  hands  of  the  French  working- 
men,  passed  to  Belgium,  and  in  this  second  period,  called  Russo- 
German,  the  International  became  Communist,  that  is  to  say,  des 
potic. 

"  From  that  time  it  was  easy  to  foresee  the  march  of  events  :  the 
fatal  invasion  of  all  the  dried-fruit  of  the  world  into  the  bosom  of 
the  International,  the  possibility  of  grouping  all  secret  ambitions 
and  the  near  advent  of  Babouvism. 

"  It  is  against  all  idea  of  complicity  with  that  sect  which  they 
have  always  fought,  that  we  protest  in  our  character  of  founding 
members  of  the  International,  and  while  remaining  deeply  devoted 
to  the  emancipation  of  the  proletariat,  we  have  the  right  to  cry  out, 
recalling  a  saying  of  Proudhon  :  We  wash  our  hands  of  all  these 

vulgar  lupercalia  ? 

"  FRIUOURG." 

We  have  already  jn  other  chapters  replied  to  the 
theory  of  M.  Fribourg  as  to  that  of  M.  Tolain,  and 
we  believe  we  have  proved,  as  we  went  along,  that 
the  march  of  the  International  in  the  way  of  the 
false  and  the  odious  was  constant,  and  even  per 
fectly  regular ;  that  it  by  no  means  resulted  as 
these  gentlemen  believed  from  accident,  from 


248  Histoty  of   the  InUrnationaL 

chance,  from  the  proceedings  directed  against  the 
first  bureau  of  the  committee  of  the  Paris  sections, 
but  that  it  must  have  inevitably  resulted  from  the 
composition  of  the  society  and  the  ideas  already 
absolutely  false  and  singularly  disastrous  which  had 
inspired  its  first  founders.  We  will  not  return  to 
this  subject,  and  \\e  will  content  ourselves  with  giv 
ing  here  the  speech  of  M.  Tolain,  and  the  letter  of  M. 
Fribourg. 

Protests  less  clear  than  those  of  these  two  gentle 
men  have  been  produced  recently  in  England. 

The  manifesto  of  the  general  council,  of  which 
we  have  just  spoken,  appeared  with  the  signatures 
of  all  the  members  of  that  council  and  all  the  cor 
responding  secretaries.  Some  time  after  it  was 
made  public,  their  appeared  in  the  Daily  Neivs  two 
letters,  in  which  it  was  criticized  and  disavowed. 
What  was  curious  about  it  was  that  the  author  of 
one  of  these  two  letters,  Mr.  Lucraft,  was  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  manifesto.  But  he  explained  that 
he  had  not  been  present  at  the  meeting  in  which  it 
had  been  adopted  and  that  his  signature  had  been 
used  without  consulting  him.  The  general  secre 
tary  of  the  council,  Mr.  John  Hales,  answered  with 
much  warmth,  by  means  of  the  same  journal. 

After  having  thrown  out  sufficiently  mysterious 
insinuations  against  the  first  of  these  two  claimants, 
Mr.  Holyoake,  he  said  that,  in  the  meeting  of  May 
23d,Mr.  Lucraft  was  informed  that  the  address  on  the 
civil  war  in  France  would  be  read  in  the  next  regu 
lar  reunion  of  the  council  May  3Oth.  He  had  then 
only  to  decide  whether  he  would  be  present  or  not 


History   of   the  International.  249 

at  this  reunion.  Moreover  he  knew  (let  us  notice  in 
pasing  the  important  detail  which  is  revealed  to  us 
by  chance),  that  the  rule  of  the  council  was  to  make 
all  its  members  figure  as  signers  of  these  public 
documents,  without  troubling  itself  as  to  whether 
they  were  present  or  absent,  and  Mr.  Lucraft,  far 
from  condemning  this  rule,  had  energetically  in 
sisted,  in  other  circumstances,  in  preventing  its  be 
ing  violated.  In  this  very  sitting  of  May  231^!,  he 
voluntarily  declared  that  "  his  entire  sympathy  was 
with  the  Commune  of  Paris."  Finally,  in  the  sit 
ting  of  June  2Oth,  he  had  been  forced. to  acknowl 
edge  that  he  had  not  even  read  the  letter,  against 
which  he  had  protested,  and  as  for  what  had  led 
him  to  disavow  it,  it  was  simply  what  he  had  read 
about  this  affair  in  different  papers. 

Mr.  Odger  also  condemned  the  manifesto,  al 
though  his  name  also  figured  among  those  of  the 
signers  :  he  moreover  declared  like  Mr.  Lucraft 
that  he  had  ceased  to  belong  to  the  council. 

Mr.  Hales  finished  his  letter  to  the  Daily  Neivs 
by  declaring  that  these  two  resignations  were 
unanimously  accepted. 

New  incidents  were  still  produced  in  this  affair 
of  the  disavowal  of  the  address  by  some  of  its  pre 
tended  authors,  and  new  explanations,  generally 
"very  confused,  were  published  by  means  of  the 
papers.  We  will  not  dwell  upon  them,  and  will 
'  only  recall  the  two  facts  which  seem  to  result  from 
this  curious  incident. 

The  supreme  leaders  of  the  International  evi 
dently  adhered  freely,  spontaneously,  we  have  even 

11* 


250  History   of  the  International. 

the  right  to  say  passionately,  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  Commune  of  Paris.  They  approved  its  deeds 
and  its  crimes  ;  they  thought  it  useful  to  their 
cause  to  manifest,  by  a  public  document,  this 
adhesion  of  their  vast  association  ;  then,  seeing 
what  profound  disgust  this  abominable  statement,  in 
which  they  exalted  the  incendiaries  and  glorified 
the  assassins,  inspired  in  the  immense  majority  of 
the  public,  several  of  them  regretted  having 
yielded  to  their  first  movement,  and  sought  a 
means  of  separating  themselves  from  a  society, 
without  doubt  numerous  and  powerful,  but  hence 
forward  doomed  to  general  execration. 


CONCLUSION. 

REAL    POWER    OF    THE    INTERNATIONAL. — HOW    CAN 

IT      BE      RESISTED  ? LAWS       OF      COMPRESSION  ; 

THEY      WILL      DO      MORE      HARM     THAN      GOOD. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  AN  INTERNATIONAL  RESIST 
ANCE  TO  THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONSPIRACY  OF 
DEMAGOGISM. 

We  have  exposed  as  faithfully  and  clearly  as  we 
were  able,  the  principles,  organization,  and  deeds  of 
the  famous  association  which  pretended  to  work 
immediately,  in  one  day,  by  a  single  blow  of  irre 
sistible  power,  the  most  profound  and  radical  revo 
lution  which  had  up  to  this  time  overthrown 
Europe. 

Now  that  we  have  shown  the  serious  danger 
which  threatens  society,  we  will,  perhaps,  be  asked 
to  point  out  the  remedy.  That  would  be  an 
attempt  beyond  our  power  ;  we  will  not  venture  to 
undertake  it,  but  we  will  allow  ourselves  at  least  to 
present  some  observations  by  way  of  conclusion. 

We  believe  first,  that,  however  great  may  be  the 
evil,  the  perils  which  it  brings  upon  us  must  not  be 
exaggerated. 

In  war,  the  power  of  the  enemy  does  not  result 
solely  from  the  number  of  men  which  it  places  in 
line  ;  this  question  of  numbers  is  even  relatively 
secondary.  That  which  makes  the  power  of  an 
army,  principally,  is  the  character  of  the  soldiers  of 


252  History   of   the  International. 

which  it  is  composed  ;  it  is  especially  the  ability, 
intelligence,  and  science  of  the  leaders  who  com 
mand  it. 

Now  the  soldiers  of  the  International  are  not 
worth  much.  Those  of  the  workingmen  who  are 
not  content  to  adhere  to  the  statutes  of  the  society 
in  order  to  free  themselves  from  fatiguing  importu 
nities,  to  avoid  being  thought  evil  of  by  their  com 
rades,  but  who  embrace  its  principles  with  passion, 
and  who  count  on  their  triumph  as  Moses  counted 
on  the  promised  land,  are  generally  the  least  indus 
trious,  the  least  patient,  the  least  economical,  the 
least  sober.  The  fanatics  of  the  society,  those  who 
must  constitute  its  principal  power,  are  furnished 
not  from  the  flower,  but  from  the  scum  of  the 
laboring  class.  Here  is  already  a  cause  of  weak 
ness. 

The  leaders  are  perhaps  supplied  still  worse. 
Those  who  were  the  most  intelligent  and  the  most 
honest  among  the  first  founders,  are  almost  all 
disgusted  and  have  retired.  What  are  the  others 
worth  ?  We  have  seen  them  at  work  for  our 
injury  ;  what  proof  of  talent  or  of  intelligence  have 
they  given  ?  When  have  they  shown  themselves 
capable  of  commanding  ?  They  are  divided  among 
themselves,  and  the  noise  of  their  discords  has 
often  drowned  at  certain  times  the  noise  of  the 
cannonade  ;  but  they  have  not  known  how  to 
organize  their  government  nor  even  one  of  their 
battalions.  They  passed  two  months  of  their  reign 
in  undoing  in  the  evening  what  they  had  done  in 
the  morning,  and  in  making  decrees  which  no  one 


History   of   the   International.  253. 

obeyed.  The  true  formula  of  their  government 
was  anarchy  in  despotism.  They  obtained  less  sub 
mission  with  their  committee  of  public  safety,  their 
court-martials,  and  their  vollies  of  musketry,  than 
the  most  common-place  of  ordinary  governments 
obtains  with  the  three-cornered  hat  of  an  inoffen 
sive  policeman.  That  which  ought  to  humiliate 
them  the  most,  if  they  took  note  of  it,  was  that  the 
sentiment  which  they  inspired  in  most  unani 
mously  in  everybody,  and  first  in  their  own  friends, 
was  contempt.  And  this  contempt  was  precisely 
because  of  their  profound  ignorance  of  all  matters, 
and  their  incurable  incapacity  which  pervaded 
every  one  of  their  actions.  Here,  truly,  were  gen 
erals  capable  of  conquering  the  world  ! 

A  socialist  school  recognized  the  necessity  of 
the  union  of  three  elements  in  every  enterprise  : 
labor,  capital,  and  talent.  The  International  is 
recruited,  especially,  among  the  workingmcn  little 
friendly  to  work :  it  declares  capital  infamous,  and 
smites  it  with  excommunication  ;  as  for  talent,  it 
has  shown  that  its  leaders  were  completely  desti 
tute  of  it.  It  may  still,  perhaps,  give  us  some 
bloody  fight,  but  we  have  little  reason  to  fear  that 
it  can  ever,  in  whatever  part  of  the  globe  it  may 
be,  win  a  serious  and  lasting  victory. 

However,  if  we  need  not  fear  seeing  it  triumph, 
it  is  certain  that  we  must  guard  against  the  evil 
which  it  can  and  which  it  will  do  us. 

What  ousrht  we  do  to  in  order  to  resist  it  ? 

o 

The  means  which  at  first  seems  the  most  simple, 
is  to  have  recourse  as  ever  to  repression.  God  for- 


254  History   of   the  International, 

bid  that  we  should  be  led  into  this  course  so  easy 
in  appearance,  so  fatal  in  reality.  Withdrawal  of 
the  law  of  coalitions  and  reestablishment  of  the 
articles  of  the  code  which  condemned  strikes,  abso 
lute  proscription  of  the  right  of  meeting,  and  the 
right  of  association,  severe  laws  against  the  press, 
such  are  the  sole  barriers  which  people  to-day 
think  of  opposing  to  the  progress  of  the  enemies  of 
social  order.  Alas  !  we  have  already  set  up  against 
them  these  pretended  barriers  :  they  have  singu 
larly  restricted  the  movements  of  honest  men, 
scrupulous  observers  of  the  laws,  and  prevented 
them  from  doing  good  ;  they  have  not  arrested  for 
one  moment  the  others,  who  care  little  for  law  and 
have  little  fear  of  prison. 

On  the  one  side,  some  have  abstained,  out  of  re 
spect  for  the  law,  from  holding  meetings  in  which 
serious  questions  relative  to  arts,  commerce,  and 
trade  would  have  been  usefully  discussed ;  on  the 
other  side,  some  have  known  well  how,  in  contempt 
of  the  law,  to  hold  secret  conventicles  in  which  war 
against  society  was  organized. 

The  law  hindered  us  from  associating  in  order  to 
reclaim,  under  the  second  empire,  the  large  liber 
ties  and  prudent  reforms  which  might  have  pre 
vented  our  late  disasters  ;  it  did  not  hinder  the 
founders  of  the  International  from  uniting  by  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  in  their  association,  men  deter 
mined  to  risk  everything  in  order  to  establish  the 
reign  of  Communism. 

The  organic  decree  of  February  i;th,  1852,  sub 
jected  the  political  press  to  the  control  of  the  pri- 


History  of    the  International.  255 

mary  authorities  and  administrative  jurisdiction, 
under  pretense  that  it  was  the  sole  means  of  saving 
society  when  in  danger.  The  functionaries  of  the 
empire  applied  this  law  of  safety  with  marvellous 
intelligence.  Leaving  on  the  field  of  the  discus 
sions  of  the  press  all  the  fundamental  principles  on 
which  society  reposes,  they  reserved  warnings  and 
suspensions  for  the  journals  guilty  of  vexing  pre 
fects  or  disturbing  ministers.  Certain  statesmen  of 
the  second  empire  thought  they  were  giving  a 
proof  of  their  political  genius  by  protecting  against 
the  rigors  of  the  tribunals  the  ultra-socialist  sheet 
of  M.  Vermorel  which  preached  social  war,  at  the 
very  time  when  they  were  forbidding  honest  liberal 
conservatives  to  start  a  paper  which  might  bear  an 
Orleanist  tinge. 

Such  will  be  infallibly  always  and  everywhere  the 
effect  of  laws  of  compression.  We  have  had  since 
December  2nd  a  proof  of  it,  too  long,  too  sad,  and 
too  decisive,  to  allow  us  to  care  to  try  it  over, again. 

It  is  then  not  the  State  which  we  must  ask  to 
protect  us  against  the  International ;  it  is  ourselves 
who  must  consider  the  means  for  defending  our 
selves  all  alone. 

The  country  in  which  it  has  done  the  most  evil 
is  that  which  enjoyed  almost  no  liberty  at  the  time  in 
which  it  was  founded,  that  is  to  say,  France.  In 
the  states  where  almost  absolute  liberty  reigns,  like 
Switzerland,  Belgium,  England,  it  has  had  to  limit 
itself  to  organizing  strikes  which  have  often  suc 
ceeded,  but  which  have  sometimes  also  failed. 

Let  us  imitate  the  Belgians,  the  Swiss,  and  the 


256  History   of   tJie  International. 

English.  Let  us  fight  error  by  opposing  to  it 
truth  :  but  especially  let  us  become  organized  for 
the  contest. 

The  workingmen  united  in  order  to  sustain  each 
other  in  their  strikes.  Let  the  employers  unite  in 
order  to  resist  these  coalitions.  The  day  in  which 
they  shall  decide  to  sustain  each  other  as  energet 
ically  as  the  workingmen  do,  they  will  be  the 
strongest.  In  England,  since  the  leaders  of  indus 
try  have  succeeded  in  opposing  their  coalitions  to 
those  of  the  workingmen  by  their  look-outs,  the 
strikes  have  become  much  less  numerous.  In 
Geneva  last  year,  the  employers  in  the  building- 
trade  adopted  the  same  system,  and  stopped  all 
their  works,  as  soon  as  the  strike  of  the  plumbers, 
organized  with  great  influence,  broke  out.  There 
fore  the  plumbers  could  no  longer  count  on  the  sub 
sidies  which  their  comrades  had  promised  them, 
since  they  needed  aid  themselves  ;  the  plans  of  the 
ringleaders  were  disturbed ;  in  spite  of  all  the 
efforts  of  the  International  the  strikers  had  to  yield 
and  return,  discontented  doubtless  but  beaten,  to 
the  workshops  which  they  had  hoped  to  reenter 
only  as  conquerers. 

The  association  which  attacks  the  employers  is 
international.  Let  that  which  they  shall  form  to 
defend  themselves  be  international  also.  The  day 
in  which  all  the  capitalists — since  it  is  for  them  that 
it  is  desired — shall  become  associated  from  one  end 
of  Europe  to  the  other  in  order  to  defend  them 
selves,  they  will  no  longer  yield  before  any  coali 
tion,  and  instead  of  dreading  their  defeat,  it  will 


History  of   the  International.  257 

only  remain  to  us  to  exhort  them  not  to  abuse  their 
victory. 

The  day  in  which  they  shall  triumph,  their  first 
care  ought  to  be  to  show  themselves  generous  and 
benevolent  towards  the  vanquished,  the  bitterness 
of  whose  defeat  they  should  endeavor  to  make  sup 
portable.  They  ought  especially  to  endeavor  to 
make  their  workingmen  understand  that  this  war  be 
tween  labor  and  capital  is  more  senseless  than  culpa 
ble,  that  the  interests  of  these  two  pretended  adversa 
ries  are  identical,  that  the  employer  would  be  as 
crazy  to  seek  to  starve  his  workingmen  as  the 
workingmen  to  wish  to  ruin  his  employers,  that  the 
same  qualities  are  necessary  to  one  as  to  the  other, 
that  order,  economy,  activity,  and  intelligence,  have 
often  transformed  a  simple  workingman  into  a 
bourgeois,  a  capitalist,  as  disorder,  idleness,  and  pro 
digality,  have  often  caused  a  family  to  fall  from  the 
ranks  of  the  bourgeoisie  into  those  of  the  proleta 
ries. 

It  is  true  that  these  truths,  and  all  those  of  the 
same  kind,  are  hard  to  impress  upon  the  minds  pre 
judiced,  and  moreover,  little  enlightened  and  espe 
cially  exasperated  by  a  recent  contest.  But  there 
must  be  joined  to  these  philosophic  and  economic 
preachings,  proofs  clear  and  irrefutable  of  the  be 
nevolent  and  just  spirit  with  which  they  are  ani 
mated.  There  are  many  workingmen  laborious, 
active,  intelligent,  to  whom  the  claims  made  in  ad 
vance  in  all  strikes,  by  the  leaders  of  the  Interna 
tional,  are  very  prejudicial  because  they  tend  to 
substitute  work  by  the  day,  advantageous  only  to 


258  History  of   the  International. 

idle  or  unskillful  workmen,  for  work  by  the  job, 
favorable  to  the  good  and  skillful  laborer.  In  this 
choice  number,  from  which  already  the  bourgeoisie 
is  recruited,  will  there  not  be  means  of  finding  a 
large  number  of  honest  men  who  can  and  who  will 
wish  to  serve  as  loyal  and  respected  intermediates 
between  their  comrades  and  their  employers  ? 
Could  there  not  thifs  be  organized  regular  arbitra 
tors  who,  standing  aloof  from  either  party,  can  make 
capital  understand  one  day  the  just  claims  of  labor, 
and  make  labor  understand  on  the  morrow  the  ne 
cessities  imposed  upon  capital  ? 

The  working  class  has  hardly  consented  until 
now  to  listen  to  any  but  the  men  who  preached 
war  and  hatred.  Is  it  truly  ignorance  or  simplicity 
to  imagine  that  it  can  be  otherwise  in  the  future, 
and  that  instructed,  on  the  one  side,  by  sad  and  too 
numerous  experiences,  calmed  on  the  other,  by  sat 
isfaction  which  the  law  has  already  given,  and  by 
that  which  it  may  still  accord  to  its  most  just 
claims,  it  would  wish  to  lend  also  now  an  attentive 
ear  to  men  of  good  will  who  will  recommend  to  it 
the  forgetting  of  hatred  of  classes,  social  reconcili 
ation,  legal  and  pacific  pursuit  of  means  for  amel 
iorating  its  condition  ? 

Such  are  the  questions  which  we  modestly  sub 
mit  to  our  readers,  on  whatever  round  of  the  social 
ladder  the  chance  of  birth  or  their  work  has  placed 
them.  There  are  no  problems  more  interesting  ; 
there  are  none  which  it  is  more  necessary  to  solve. 

The  inveterate  enemies  of  all  the  ideas  upon 
which  modern  civilization  reposes,  are  doubtless 


History  of   the  International.  259 

not  as  strong  as  they  boast  themselves  to  be,  or 
especially  as  they  believed  not  long  ago  ;  but  they 
are  still  strong  and  formidable.  The  mental  mal 
ady  to  which  a  part  of  the  Paris  population  is  a 
prey,  rages  also  in  all  Europe,  and  if  we  need  not 
fear  the  final  triumph  of  the  social  revolution,  all 
the  large  cities  may  at  least  become,  one  day  or 
another,  the  theatre  of  events  as  tragic  as  those 
which  have  nearly  caused  the  total  ruin  of 
Paris.  This  is  a  danger  to  which  we  cannot  too 
much  call  public  attention.  War  is  declared 
against  civilization  in  all  points  of  our  old  world. 
Everywhere  the  barbarians  are  at  our  gates.  We 
must  put  ourselves  in  position  to  repulse  their 
assault,  on  whatever  spot  it  may  be  made.  But  let 
us  remember  that  every  blow  given  for  liberty,  far 
from  weakening  the  enemies  of  social  order,  will 
only  fortify  them,  by  permitting  them  to  disguise 
themselves  as  defenders  of  these  sacred  rights  of 
which  they  have,  on  the  contrary,  just  shown 
themselves  as  the  most  cruel  and  most  implacable 
adversaries. 


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269tiL8 


Villetard  de  Prunieres, 
C.E. 


CaU  Number: 

HX11 

15 

V72 


15 
V71 


269448 


